


This Could Be Anything (This Could Be Everything)

by floweredhalo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Detective Harry, Detective Louis, M/M, i know nothing about police stations hospitals or courtrooms, theres very little actual policework, this is my world theyre just living in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-04 19:05:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 57,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14599719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floweredhalo/pseuds/floweredhalo
Summary: “Captain, I think I’m in love with Detective Styles.” Louis blurts out.“Is this supposed to be a surprise, Louis?  You’re a detective how have you not detected this sooner?”  Liam is silently laughing and his big brown eyes are doing nothing to soothe Louis’ inner panic.“But wait, what?”Harry and Louis are detectives for the NYPD they’ve been pranking each other for years and ignoring their true feelings.  Or the Brooklyn 99 AU.





	This Could Be Anything (This Could Be Everything)

**Author's Note:**

> hi yall, this is my first Big Fic and i hope yall enjoy it!  
> so this isnt finished being edited and i apologize and take credit for all errors, but due to fox canceling brooklyn nine nine i thought it best to post anyway so please enjoy this and cry with me.  
> edit: tonight b99 got picked up by nbc so you could say posting this fic got b99 back so ur welcome
> 
> a very special thank you to my [liv](http://suspendrs.tumblr.com) for not only encouraging me to write this but for being my beta too. ur comments always made me smile and i literally wouldnt have finished this without you.  
> thank you to [tricia marie](http://ribbonsandinkwells) for also going through and working through my bullshit grammar mistakes i appreciate it so hard okay thank you so much  
> also thank you to my twin [cara](http://rainbowlouie.tumblr.com) for screaming about this fic with me and listening to all of my rambles. i love u girl ok.
> 
>  **Additional Warning** there is a shooting in this fic as well as a hospital scene if those arent your thing

They’re slow dancing in the middle of a crowded dance floor. The lucky couple of honor is the leader of a cocaine ring and his lovely lady who works in the sales department of Macy’s. The room is decorated with cheap, pink decorations and ugly flowers, but the couple seems delighted with the mediocre reception. Harry and Louis, on the other hand, both have the same thoughts about weddings – dress to impress. 

Harry is wearing one of his favorite suits tonight, a simple black one with a sheer black shirt underneath. He’s paired the look with a wide brimmed hat and his nicest leather boots to really top the look off. His pin for the night is a black snake with the phrase ‘do no harm take no shit’ inscribed on it, one of his favorites. He’s got a rosy pink lipstick on and his nails are painted bright purple and his curls are down and brushing against his collarbones. He feels witchy and fabulous. 

Louis is also dressed to the nines for this occasion, in a navy blue form fitting suit, a crisp white button down, and brown leather oxfords. He’s got shimmer on his cheekbones and a light layer of mascara on his lashes because he knows which of his features to accentuate no matter what his sister Lottie says. 

Harry is watching the wedding party over the top of Louis’ head. Louis is breathing Harry in; he always smells like home. Louis looks up to Harry and notices the soft smile on his face. The crowd around them fades away as Louis takes a deep breath and moves his head closer to Harry’s. 

Then Louis grabs him by his jacket lapels and kisses him. _Hard._

Louis starts the kiss off slow but steadily builds it up. Harry has never been kissed like this in his entire life and he never wants it to end. He’s never going to be the same after this kiss. His surroundings blur as he gets lost in the feeling of Louis’ lips against his own. He lets out a soft whine as Louis begins to pull away, he chases Louis’ lips and deepens the kiss. Harry grabs at Louis as if he’s a lifeline and he never wants to come up for air. They’ve been kissing far longer than socially acceptable. People are probably staring at the spectacle they’re making, each kissing harder than before. Harry isn’t going to question what’s happening, he’s been waiting for this for quite some time now. Harry pulls back for a breath and looks at Louis as if he holds all the answers to the questions running through his mind. Everything is finally falling into place. Louis looks at Harry for a moment before laughing in his face.

“High five, partner! Good job, we totally made those people think we’re married! Hah can you believe? US? Married? Fun fun! Let’s go catch a drug dealer.” He continues to laugh as he leaves Harry and goes to the food stations to grabs the last cocktail prawn. 

They’re pretending to be in a relationship for the wedding, Harry completely forgot. Their cover is that they’re a couple that has been married for five years, an act Harry is all too pleased to play. The wedding party lasted an entire week, Harry is exhausted trying to keep up with Louis and his stories. His cover is a man named Jack who is really into golf. 

Harry’s still standing in the middle of the dance floor when he realizes Louis has just been playing the part of an undercover cop. He never wanted to kiss Harry. It was all an act. 

Here we go, Harry thinks as he goes to help Louis with the bust.

 

**

 

The Brooklyn Nine-Nine Unit has watched detectives Tomlinson and Styles dance around each other for three years. The Captain continues to put them on undercover missions where they have to pose as lovers for reasons even Louis doesn’t understand. The entire squad smiles at the pair when they are partnered up; secretly the squad has been waiting for them to get together for years. He even set them as partners and desk buddies. 

The Nine-Nine is lead by Captain Liam Payne, the first openly asexual captain in NYPD history. He’s gone through his fair share of discrimination as he worked his way up to his Captain’s position. He was accused of being an ‘emotionally stunted freak’ too many times to count. People didn’t understand that his sexuality had nothing to do with his capabilities as a cop and it ruined most of his working relationships. So he was nervous to say the least, worried that people wouldn’t understand him and that it would lead to more bias. To him it was “a big deal” when he got appointed to his first unit. To Liam Payne, even being considered for the position was a step in the right direction for the Police Force. 

Captain Payne’s first day had a rough start, but eventually he considers it to be one of his favorite days with his new squad. 

He walked out of the elevator to notice a scene surrounding one of the detectives. Three of his detectives were laughing at the small one’s antics. Liam noticed how animated he was speaking to his laughing coworkers. The tall and lanky one noticed Liam’s arrival almost right away and stopped laughing at the jokes being told. Liam hadn’t heard the entire joke, just the end, but when he realized one of his detectives was talking about him he stopped in his tracks. 

“He’s going to be a washed up pencil pusher concerned with following the rules like a robot. Meep. Morp. Zeep. Robot. Captain. Engage,” the small one spoke loudly.

“Is that what you think of me?” Liam replied.

The detective grimaced as he turned to face his new Captain. Liam noted how his blue eyes were kind, not like the cruel eyes of his old bullies. 

“Uh hey! New Captain alert. You must be our new C.O. I’m Detective Louis Tomlinson. It’s great to meet you, Captain.” Louis scratched the back of his shaggy hair, and looked everywhere but at Liam’s face.

“No, no, Detective, don’t let me interrupt. You were describing what kind of person I’m going to be and I would like you to finish,” Liam spoke with little enthusiasm in his voice.

“Uh I don’t think that’s necessary.” The detective rushed out but Liam cut him off with an unamused look. “Or! I could recap quickly sure! Um, I think I said some joke about you being a washed up pencil pusher,” he said, and turned to a tall detective next to him. He had a smirk on his face like he knew Louis was going to be in trouble. Liam had to hand it to Louis, he’s bold. 

“Now, do the robot voice.” Liam commanded. 

“Which?” Louis trailed off. 

“The robot voice you were doing when you implied I am a rule following robot. I want to hear it again.” Louis turned to look at the other detectives and grimaced. He then moved his arms in a robot-like fashion while he spoke.

“Meep. Morp. Zarp. Robot.” He trailed off and looked at Liam with an apologetic look in his eyes. 

“That’s a terrible robot voice.” 

“Yep.” Louis agreed. Liam then turned to the rest of the squad room and looked at each of his detectives in the eye before speaking. 

“Everyone. I am your new Commanding Officer. Captain Liam Payne.”

“Speech!” the tall one shouted. 

“That was my speech.”

“Short and sweet,” the detective agreed with him. 

“Detective Tomlinson, I would like to see you in my office.” Captain Payne took more pleasure in the whole ordeal than he let on. He watched as Louis stood in front of his desk with his arms crossed and a furrow in his brow. 

“You can call me Captain Meep Morp if you would like.” Liam told him while messing with his beard. His eyebrows were half-way up to his forehead as he waited for Louis’ reaction. 

“Captain Meep Morp, I am honored to be on your squad and I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.” Louis saluted him. Liam made sure to tell Louis that he was the only one that could use the moniker. Louis made a big show of it too.

“First day and I’m already your favorite, huh Captain?” Louis smiled as he exited Liam’s office, passing Harry on his way to his desk. Harry was no doubt desperate to get to speak with Liam. Harry had been talking about nothing but ‘Captain Payne’s bravery’ for weeks now. Harry’s looked up to Liam for a while, for his desire to stay true to himself, something Harry has struggled with. In response to Louis’ outburst on his first day, Liam decided to switch up the partner arrangements since he didn’t want his squad stuck in the old ways. 

“Alright! Zayn and Nick, you two are a team.”

“But Captain! Nick’s my partner.” Louis interrupted his Captain, but Liam just smiled. 

“Not anymore. Louis and Harry, partner up.” Liam said with a small smile on his face; these two were made for each other and he knew it. Liam watched as Harry turned to Harry with a hopeful look on his face.

“Hey Tomlinson, at least you’re partnered with the best detective in the NYPD,” Harry said in a teasing tone. 

“Ha! As if, I’m going to make your life hell, Styles. Just wait.” Louis had a scowl on his face and he walked away from the meeting before being formally excused. Liam let it slide, because he knew the Tomlinson-Styles partnership would be the best in NYPD history. 

 

**

Sergeant Jesy Nelson tries her damn best to keep the unit in one piece, but hell do they make it hard. Between Niall, their civilian office aid, and Detective Tomlinson, Jesy just wants to go home to her twins. She’s getting too old for this. She’s the muscle behind the team, and good muscle at that. She tries to keep them from tearing the office apart...again. 

Jesy’s been on desk duty since her twins were born - too scared to get in an accident, she deemed herself ‘unfit’ for the job. Since being on desk duty she’s stopped Detective Tomlinson from an accidental death far too many times. He’s brazen and puts himself in terrible situations far too often for the best detective Nine-Nine has. He’s also the godfather to one of her twins. Jesy truly loves Louis. She sees him as a friend and a sort of pseudo-brother. He’s reckless and stupid, but he has the biggest heart she’s ever seen. Every time she saves his ass, she’s reminded how much she loves him. 

Louis has destroyed the office, leaving Jesy to yell and force him to piece it back together, too many times to count. Louis is similar to a tornado, but he’s earnest about making up the damage. 

The day Jesy came back from maternity leave she wished she had never walked through the elevator doors. Louis was running around with a helmet on his head and a can of silly string in his hand. She found Harry hiding under his desk with his fingers in his ears while screaming bloody murder. Nick was standing on his desk cheering Louis on as he ran through the office. Niall hadn’t looked up from his phone, he had his headphones and was dancing away- probably listening to Carly Rae Jepsen or a new k-pop song. Liam’s door was shut which was probably for the best. Zayn, who usually watches Louis’ shenanigans with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, was actually chasing Louis with a giant fucking bowie knife. Nothing about this Squad is safe and Jesy needs a damn nap. 

Louis’ surprise at seeing Jesy was proven as he sprayed Jesy from head to toe in pink silly string. She should have never taken this job. She tells her husband this every single day. 

“ _Sarge, you're back!_ Oh shit, sorry ‘bout the string! I was fighting with Nick and then I accidentally got Zayn and he pulled out his knife and here we are now,” Louis was still shouting and thankfully his can of silly string had seemingly run out. Jesy took one long, unimpressed look at Louis. She removed the silly string from her hair and raised one of her eyebrows at him before giving him a piece of her mind. 

“Desk Duty for a month Tomlinson. That’s final.” She looked him up and down one last time before walking to her desk. Louis didn’t fight it, he just smiled at Sergeant Nelson as he walked back to his desk. Jesy watched on as Harry got out from under his desk to resume his paperwork. 

Since she had been gone there were multiple reports of Tomlinson’s antics. What surprised her the most about the reports was Harry’s name written up alongside Louis’. Normally where Louis was causing trouble, Harry was trying to clean up the mess. Harry was usually the perfect employee; sure he was a little out there with his outfit choices and long hair but, hey, it’s 2018 and Jesy loves that boy. 

She thinks the two are just getting closer as partners and friends, which is just what she needs. Harry and Louis combining forces to become the biggest pain in her ass. 

 

**

 

The rest of the unit consists of Detectives Grimshaw, Malik, Winston and Azoff. And Civilian Aid Turned Captain’s Assistant Niall. And of course Detective Harry Styles. 

Nick Grimshaw is Louis’ right hand man. Always eager to please and ready to fight for Louis’ honor, he is loyal almost to a fault -- he gets into trouble more often than not trying to keep Louis in a good light with the Sarge and Captain. Nick calls himself Louis’ ‘Tinkerbell,’ everyone finds it weird. Nick’s got a badge and a gun and would do anything to protect Louis. Nick is commonly the brunt of Louis’ jokes but he has the best sense of humor in the Unit. Nick has an unhealthy and disgusting relationship with food; Louis once listened to him talk about his experience at a gastro-sensuous restaurant for over an hour and Louis puked after. 

Their relationship came to be instantly as Nick joined the Nine Nine. The rest of the squad realized the depth of their friendship during a bust over four years ago. 

Louis was standing on the roof of the adjacent building watching the perps through his goggles. He couldn’t stop fiddling with his vest, he thought it was weird and lumpy. 

“Falcon one, do we have a go?”

“The light is green, Tiger one.”

“What are you gonna say when you crash through the window, Louis?”

“I’m gonna go with, ‘Hey there, sorry for dropping in.’” Louis continued to fiddle with his vest. 

“Goosebumps, Louis. _Goosebumps._ ” Nick was positioned outside the room where the new drug ring was counting money and the drugs. They were toast. “Hey, is the equipment secure?”

“Check.”

“Weapon loaded?”

“Check.”

“Did you have breakfast?” 

“What? That’s not on the checklist, Grimshaw!”

“I added it because I care about you.” Louis rolled his eyes even though he knew Nick couldn’t see him. 

“No, I did not have breakfast.” 

“Unacceptable. Look in your pocket.” Nick smiled at Harry and mouthed that he knew Louis better than Harry did. Jealousy is not something Nick is comfortable with, he likes to assert himself as Louis’ best friend daily.

Meanwhile, on the roof, Louis found a granola bar in the pocket of his vest, which explained the lumpiness. 

“Look, there’s chocolate chips in this!” Louis exclaimed. 

“Yeah, I’m not an idiot, I know how to get my best friend to eat his fiber!” Nick gloated. 

“Okay, bar digested, mission go.”

“Alright, Tomlinson, don’t make this too difficult.” Harry spoke through the microphone. 

“ _Don’t Make This Too Difficult,_ title of Harry’s sex tape.” Louis laughed as he went down the zipline and crashed through the window. 

The unit watched as Nick smiled fondly at Louis. Harry looked disgusted at the two in front of him. Zayn was already reading one of criminals his rights. When they got back to the station Jesy yelled at Louis for creating unnecessary damage and demanded that Louis did the paperwork for it. 

All in all, a successful mission. 

**

Zayn Malik is a bit of a mystery to the entire unit. He is commonly stood in his “power pose,” as Harry puts it. He’s dark and mysterious and has everyone eating out the palm of his hand. He’s brutal with his words, which are few. He’s the stereotypical bad boy who rides a motorcycle and can stare someone into submission. He has frequently spoken about the necessity of every woman having an axe; weapons are important to him. The squad knows little to nothing about him. Zayn considers Louis to be his best friend because he knows three facts about him: one, Louis has no idea where Zayn lives, two, they went through the Academy together and, three, Louis found out Zayn’s biggest secret by complete accident. 

Louis was at the local arcade absolutely crushing it at Pac Man when he heard a familiar chuckle. He looked around the arcade until he spotted the classic black hair of Zayn Malik. Zayn was smiling and tucking his hair back, which was the weirdest thing Louis had seen that day, and he lives in New York City. Louis also noticed Zayn was sitting with a man, a beautiful one at that...and _they were holding hands._

Holy shit. 

Louis knew that he should definitely _not_ interrupt Zayn and his date, he knew he should just stay quiet and go back to his game, but well, he’s Louis. He got up after saving his progress (he’s no heathen) and rounded the corner where Zayn and this mystery date were sitting. Zayn hadn’t noticed Louis yet; he could turn around and not say anything, it wasn’t too late. And then Zayn looked up, the look on his face morphed from bliss to anger in seconds. 

“Louis. What are you doing here?” Zayn spoke from between his teeth. 

“I was just making sure my score in Pac Man hasn’t been beaten, what are you doing here, Zaynie?” Louis smiled and batted his lashes at Zayn and his date.

“Nothing, please leave me alone, Tommo, I can’t deal with your shit right now.” Zayn looked between Louis and his date. 

“Now Zee, that’s no way to treat a friend, why don’t you introduce us? Babe?” His date spoke up. The tension between the group was palpable. Louis stuck his hand out. 

“Louis, Ryan. Ryan, Louis. Okay, let’s go.” Zayn rushed through the introduction and grabbed Ryan’s hand. They rushed out of the arcade, leaving Louis still standing with his arm extended. Ryan turned and waved at Louis as he walked out the door. Louis likes a boy with manners. 

Louis thought about the entire experience for the rest of the night and well into the next day on his way to work. When he walked through the elevator doors he was immediately pulled into an interrogation room by his collar. As he was pushed into a chair, he looked up to face his attacker. It was just Zayn, and Louis would be relieved, but Zayn looked a mess. His hair was flying in different directions and he had bags under his eyes. Even his leather jacket looked defeated. 

“Alright Tomlinson, how much do I have to pay you to forget about what you saw yesterday?” Zayn said to Louis. Louis had never seen him this frazzled. Louis remained silent for once in his life. 

“Seriously Louis, what do I have to do to make you keep your mouth shut?” Zayn looked frustrated in a way Louis had never seen. 

“Zayn, mate, what are you talking about?” 

“Louis you can’t tell anyone I was on a date…with a boy,” Zayn pleaded. 

“Aha! So it was a date? You two are cute, how long has it been a thing? Have you come to the dark side?” Louis waggled his eyebrows and smiled up at Zayn. He wanted Zayn to know it was okay to talk to him about this. If anything, Louis was The Gay to have a gay freak out to.

“Louis I’m not- Louis, I’m bi. Don’t make a big deal of it.” Zayn hadn’t looked up from where his hands were resting on the table. Louis reached over and held Zayn’s hand in his. 

“Good on you mate. I’m proud of you. And for what it’s worth, your secret is safe with me. Always. When you’re ready I’ll be right next to you when you tell the squad.” Louis smiled at Zayn and moved to give him a hug. Zayn allowed the hug for three seconds before he punched Louis in the arm. 

“What the fuck? I was being nice!” Louis was smiling though. “Anyway, so what kind of guys are you into? What do you look for?”

“Don’t get too comfortable. And I dunno, real stuff, like a nice ass? Remember, I can still hide your body and leave no evidence.” Zayn said over his shoulder as he left the interrogation room, once again leaving Louis behind. 

Louis knew in that moment A Bond had formed between the two men. He secretly made a bi pride paperclip bracelet for Zayn and left it in his desk. He got a head nod in recognition and his mission was complete. And weeks later, when Zayn sat down with the squad and captain to announce his sexuality, Louis was right by his side. Niall had set up purple, blue, and pink confetti guns to go off. When Zayn questioned Niall, asking if Louis had let it slip, Niall only had a few words to say. 

“I’m the best detective this unit has.” 

 

**

Detectives Ben Winston and Jeff Azoff are the fucking _worst._ They’re shitty detectives and disgusting human beings. Louis has no idea how they’re still on the force, much less still alive. The two constantly complain about their ailments to anyone, whether they listen or not. They never leave their desks, they wouldn’t notice a murder if it happened in front of their faces, and they somehow manage to eat through their entire shift. They get by on messy paperwork that the Captain has to fix anyway, and sometimes going out into the field. They claim to be fantastic detectives, but they don’t want the recognition. They don’t leave their desks for more than fifteen minutes, because if they do, Tech will come in and update the computers. They don’t want to lose their spot in minefield. Like Louis said, disgusting. 

It’s common knowledge to the squad that Winston and Azoff are the worst detectives on the squad. Each day there’s more evidence to support that opinion, just yesterday they witnessed one of the most incredible things the squad room has seen. Ben Winston had smiled and walked up to Louis’ desk.

“Hey Louis! The store on the corner is selling lemonade and you get to keep the jar, isn’t that amazing?” Winston said before he took a sip from his jar. Louis looked at the jar and back to Winston. 

“That is amazing. Would you excuse me for just a second?” Louis got up from his desk and ignored whatever Ben had to say. He grabbed Jesy and Niall on his way to the breakroom. 

“Guys, guys! Winston has a mason jar full of lemonade.”

“You called us in here just to tell us that?” Jesy asked. Unbelievable. 

“No, I called you in here to change your lives!” Louis couldn’t believe what was actually happening. “For you see, a mere five minutes ago Azoff introduced me to his new goldfish who lives in…”

They all gasped.

“An identical mason jar!” Nick exclaimed. 

“Oh, this isn’t gonna end well,” Niall laughed out. The rest of the group was hooked, they couldn’t believe this gift had been bestowed onto them. 

“There are two possible outcomes, and we’re gonna bet on which one happens first. So, will Azoff put fish food in Winston’s lemonade, or will Winston drink Azoff’s goldfish? Now you would think putting fish food in lemonade-” Louis was interrupted by Zayn. 

“Azoff just drank his own fish.” 

“What? _No!_ ”

 

**

Niall Horan is a self proclaimed goddess, since apparently ‘godliness knows no gender.’ He frequently uses dramatic entrances and exits. Confetti is kind of his thing. He uses the ‘art of dance’ to portray his emotions as well as his life lessons to the squad. He’s in a dance group called Floorgasm, previously named Dancy Regan. 

He’s dating another goddess named Gina, they met at an improv dance competition and it was love at first move. He hasn’t stopped worshipping her since. She’s too good for him and he knows it. Harry and Louis were there the night they met; they described the interaction between the two as ‘disgusting, limbs everywhere. I don’t know where Niall ended and Gina began.’ 

He and Lous grew up together on the same block. Niall was one of the only kids that could handle Louis’ loud personality. Niall often found himself at Louis’ place playing with his younger sisters. He enjoyed the act of big brother, but was thankful he could go back home and be the center of attention again. However, Niall does consider Louis to be his little brother for life. It doesn’t matter that Louis is older. 

Louis got Niall his job at the precinct. Niall started as a Civilian Aid, he got his own desk and did close to nothing all day. When Captain Payne started, he promoted Niall to his assistant. Niall resisted, but Captain saw potential in Niall. Niall refuses to do anything the squad asks, but if Liam asks something of him, he does it with gusto. He’s loyal like that. For all the shit Zayn gets for being ‘the biggest dick in the precinct,’ Niall really shows him up. 

Louis was over at his sisters’ apartment last night- allowing Lottie and Fizzy to live together was a mistake in Louis’ eyes, they’re too rowdy. They spent the night watching rom-coms and doing makeovers, apparently, they are _not_ too old for that. Lottie applied a simple makeup on Louis, shimmer eyeshadow, a highlight and a bit of mascara. However she did use a bold eggplant-colored lippie. He quite enjoys his look. 

He stopped at a drugstore on his way home and picked up a few items, surprised by the high price. The cashier didn’t even look up from her phone which Louis was thankful for, he was nervous about potential judgement. When he got to his place he laid all the items on his bed. Some mascaras, an eyeshadow palette, and a highlight similar to the one Lottie used, but instead of a gold undertone it was a light pink shimmer. He also grabbed some tinted lip balms because, while lipstick scared him a bit, he loved the rosy look it gave to his naturally pink lips. He decided to put the beauty items in his bathroom next to his face cleanser. He washed his face and got into bed, excited to try his new makeup tomorrow. 

He woke up late the next day and hastily applied the eyeshadow with his fingers and brushed the mascara over his lashes- he forwent the highlight and tinted lip balm because he was running out of time to get down to the precinct. 

When he got off the elevator, he headed straight to his desk, hoping Liam didn’t notice his tardiness again. He completely forgot about the makeup on his face until he heard Niall snort and walk up to his desk. 

“Look at those rose sparkles, Sasquatch! What did you do Louis, use your _fingers?_ ” Niall laughed out. Zayn smirked in their direction but didn’t get involved. 

“Um yeah Niall haha look at my makeup hah.” Louis added half heartedly. Harry watched on as Niall continued to make fun of Louis. And just _how dare_ Niall do this to Louis. Harry thought Louis looked lovely. 

“I mean seriously Lou, have you never watched a tutorial? Seriously buddy, get on this level.” Niall turned away and walked into Liam’s office still laughing. 

By the end of the day, Louis had thoroughly wiped off his eyeshadow and had mascara flakes on his cheeks. Harry wanted to kiss him better. Louis left his desk, walked up to Niall and asked to speak to him in the break room. When Niall looked at his face, he realized something was off. 

“Yeah Lou?”

“Um, what you were saying earlier about my- you know? I was wondering if…” Louis trailed off, nervously swaying on his feet. He hadn’t looked Niall in the eyes. Only when he finally looked up did Niall realize his mistake. 

“Lou babe, I thought you looked so pretty today, why did you rub your makeup off? We all liked it, I was just talking shit. Hon, don’t listen to me, you know I’m always making jokes. Seriously, Lou, we all thought you looked good today,” Niall said, trying to be earnest for once in his life. 

“Well, Niall, I was wondering about what you said about tutorials? Do you know who I should watch?” Louis looked less nervous now. Niall was so proud of him. 

“Yeah of course Lou, Kathleenlights is amazing though! You could watch any of her videos, she’s lovely to watch. Here I’ll send you a [link.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei_Hz-Rm7dk)” Niall hastily sent Louis a link to a video on a soft shimmery look. They hugged it out and separated in the main office. 

Harry, who was listening to this entire conversation, planned a trip to the store for right after his shift. 

The next morning, Harry showed up to work with pink lips, smokey eyeshadow and a vibrant highlight. By the end of the day Zayn and Niall were also wearing makeup. Liam came out from his office with a perfect winged liner. Louis didn’t stop smiling all day. 

**

That leaves the one and only Detective Harry Edward Styles. He’s the brightest detective Brooklyn has to offer, he’s witty and awkward, and a total suck up to the Captain. He’s beautifully dressed, usually with brightly patterned shirts and a nice blazer to top. He somehow manages to be clumsy and precise, and it’s stunning to watch. He’s got curls down to his shoulders and a smile that shines bright. He’s simply gorgeous, and Louis can’t stand him. He keeps a small neon rainbow lamp on his desk to bring ‘office cheer.’ Louis finds every possibility to make fun of Harry and to call him on his shit. But the moment anyone else on the squad speaks up Louis puts and end to it. 

Harry’s damn quirky and likes boring things like cooking and gardening and wears little pins on his jackets that coordinate with his mood. _Its endearing and Louis is pissed_. So he resorts to his childlike behavior and steals Harry’s books. 

The day Harry walks in with the book _‘Stuff Every Gardener Should Know_ ’ tucked under his arm Louis knew it was going to end with Harry stomping his foot. Louis _loved_ it when Harry stomped his foot. Harry was wearing a shirt that looked like it was covered in little sperms, which made Louis and Zayn laugh to themselves. His pants were tight and his blazer was tailored, his lapel pin for the day was a small crystal ball that said ‘yikes.’ Louis thought it was a big mood.

At the end of the shift Harry stomped his foot and accused a purse thief he brought in earlier of stealing his gardening book. Harry shouted about how apparently he had just gotten to the ‘good part.’ Louis was convinced there are no good parts in a book on something as dull as gardening. So he took the book home and read it from front to back. He actually enjoyed the book, but would deny it if anyone asked. Dirt, bugs, fruit. He knew gardening. He went to bed with a plan in place. 

Six weeks later, Harry’s book was returned with a small potted tomato plant. The plant comes with an origami frog and a note that had a concerned looking tomato saying ‘no one asks me how to pronounce it!’ Louis had dirt smudged on his cheek and under his fingernails. Harry announced to the squad a huge thank you to his secret garden buddy, even though he knew it was Louis. He also brought home his small tomato plant and put it next to his rosemary and basil plants. 

**

 

Detective Grimshaw and Sergeant Nelson have a running bet on when detectives Tomlinson and Styles will finally man up and date each other. The entire unit is in on it, besides Harry and Louis, of course.

The Bet has been in effect since the first week of the Tomlinson- Styles partnership. Harry overheard Louis’ nan calling him ‘Pineapples’ and has taken to calling him Pineapples ever since. The look in Louis’ eyes is always a mix between frustration and fond, and the other detectives picked up on it. The rest of the unit has been watching almost obsessively to see when Louis is finally going to make a move, for over three years. _They’re tired of waiting_.

The Bet is basically just the entire office waiting for the two to get together; the details of the bet have been long forgotten as no one thought it would take this long. Zayn originally said that it was none of their business but that Harry and Louis were probably already together with no one knowing. Niall is convinced Louis will live his whole life without speaking up because ‘he’s a big baby and Harry is beautiful.’ Nick said it would take no more than four years, Jesy said five. Nick has had it with this timeline. 

Louis makes it so difficult for the unit. While he’s a prankster, he’s also incredibly soft towards Harry. He’s fond and its disgusting. The unit watches Harry too and he's no better than Louis is at hiding his true feelings. Zayn watches Harry often; he’s inspiring to Zayn, but Zayn will never admit it. He’s noticed a common action when Harry is interested in someone: he does the Double Tuck wherre he tucks both sides of his hair behind his ears. He does this every time Louis does something nice or efficient. Who knew an organized desk would get Harry as flustered as it does? Louis has his own tell as well. Every time he makes a joke he makes sure Harry is laughing first, it’s like if he doesn’t have Harry’s attention a joke isn’t worth laughing at. 

Louis also frequently gifts Harry with homemade things. An office favorite is the paperclip bracelets. 

Harry walks into the office and sits at his desk. He turns on his small neon rainbow and makes sure everything is in place before turning to look at his partner, Louis. 

“Good morning.” Louis says. 

“For whom?” 

“For youm.” Louis looks far too proud. 

“You know that isn’t a word, right?” Harry can’t believe he has a crush on him. 

Louis mutters something under his breath, upset that Harry didn’t appreciate his quick thinking. He decides to retaliate by stealing Harry’s rainbow paperclips when Harry goes to the restroom. He hides them in his desk- a place Harry would never look- and smirks when Harry has a minor freak out about his desk being tampered with. Eventually they get pulled away from their work and go to lunch. Louis stays at his desk and makes paperclip bracelets for himself and for Lottie. He puts the rest back in Harry’s labelled paperclip container and waits for Harry to come back from lunch. 

“Heya Harold, I found these beautiful colored paperclips and just had to make some bracelets. But this one is too big for me, here you go.” Louis passes the bracelet over to Harry. The interaction has grabbed Nick and Jesy’s attention. The two stay quiet as they watch Harry’s reaction. 

“Oh! Thank you Louis, it’s beautiful.” It really is, its rainbow and Harry instantly loves it. It goes with his soft pink nails wonderfully he thinks. 

“Well don’t make a big fuss about it, s’just some office supplies.” Louis blushes as he turns back to his computer. He hopes the screen is hiding his face well enough. Harry does the same. 

Nick and Jesy, who watched the entire thing, are in shock. What a perfect opportunity to ask for a date! Nick is _furious_ and Jesy just keeps laughing while she finishes her yogurt. 

As the day ends, Harry still hasn’t taken off the bracelet. He doesn’t take it off for the rest of the week. 

The office notices how this becomes a common occurrence. Louis gifts Harry with paperclip bracelets when he’s doing well on a case. Almost as a reward for his hard work before a prank is played. When Nick asks Louis about it Louis punches him in the arm and storms away. 

**

They’re in the middle of an investigation on the Fulton Street Four, a group that stole 21 million dollars back in the 80s. Louis had been in trouble for opening the investigation with him singing ‘guess who just got murdered?’ in the middle of the briefing room, so Captain Payne had taken over. Louis is convinced that the murder is tied to the money and if they follow the other three of the Fulton Street Four they’ll uncover the money. 

“Right! So let’s catch a murderer, uncover millions in stolen money, _and_ jump out of a chopper with a knife between our teeth.”

“Tomlinson, why would you jump out of a helicopter with a knife between your teeth?” 

“It’s called a chopper, and because both of my hands will be holding giant machine guns!”

“Absolutely not. Styles? Do you want to be lead Detective on this case?” Euhhh what the fuck.

“ _No_ Sir, please let me have this one. I’ll do everything by the book!” Louis begs.

“Alright, get to work.”

So Louis was doing door duty when he got the call that another member of the Fulton Street Four was murdered. He and Nick arrived at the crime scene before Liam did. He told Nick to record it when Liam is forced to say ‘you were right.’ and he’s very excited. He’s talking to another officer when Liam walks into the crime scene. 

“Ah, hello Captain, quick update for ya, another member of the Fulton Street Four was murdered here this morning.”

“I’m surprised you’re not celebrating inappropriately.”

“This is a crime scene and I am a professional, and quite frankly I’m offended you think I would do something so disrespectful.” 

“You did it before I showed up.”

“Yeah that is exactly correct.” Louis admits, “So two of these guys murdered in the past two days? It has to be tied to the missing money. Admit I was right!”

“Circumstances do suggest a connection.”

“Yeah, but admit it with more gusto!”

“You were right.”

“Yes! Grimshaw, did you get it?” Louis asks as he turns to Nick.

“No, the camera was in selfie mode, but I look super proud of you.” 

They meet up with the commissioner and get approval to continue their investigation, Major Crimes was about to take it from them but for some reason they get to keep the case. On their way to the precinct, Liam decides that he will join them on the case. He also says they should go to the third and fourth members of the Fulton Street Four as they are suspects. When they get to the third members’ apartment ,they call out for Bludsoe to open the door, but it’s unlocked. 

“Hey look at this! Half packed suitcase.” Nick says. 

“Looks like he got interrupted by someone.”

“Or something!”

“Oh, something like what?”

“I don’t know, I thought it would add intrigue.”

“Alright Detectives, enough chit chat.” Liam interrupts them.

“Liam, how many people have to get murdered before you start having fun?” Louis asks his Commanding Officer.

“You do know it’s our job to stop the killing, right?” 

“Wait look at that, there’s a handprint. Must be a fake wall.” Louis pounds on the wall and calls out that it’s the NYPD. Bludsoe opens the door with his hands up.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! He’s trying to kill me!” Bludsoe shouts with his hands still raised. Louis looks at Nick with his eyebrows raised. They urge him to continue his statement. 

“Well you see, I was walking home from my job bussing tables down at the coffee shop. And the next thing I know Mikey D has a gun in my back.” 

“Michael D’Angelo, the other member of the Fulton Street Four.” Louis fills Liam in. 

“Yes, believe it or not, I familiarized myself with the names of all two suspects in this high-profile homicide we’re investigating.” Liam tells Louis with a flat look on his face. Louis prompts Bludsoe to continue.

“I fought him off but he got my key.”

“What’s the key for?”

“Each of us had one, and you need all four to open the safe.”

“Aaaaaand what’s in the safe? 

“The $21 million.”

“Bing..Pot! Nope.. I was gonna say bingo, but then i was like, ‘Jackpot’s better,’ but then it was too late; I was halfway through the word.” 

“Bingpot works! Bingpot’s taking off.” Nick is the best.

“Yeah, it’s taking off!” 

Liam shakes his head and makes Nick take down Bludsoe’s statement. They use their lead on D’Angelo to start the investigation on him, only to find out that Bludsoe lied and was actually the killer the entire time. Liam, Nick and Louis take the chopper to his hideout location. They’re in the hallway outside Bludsoe’s door. Louis starts whispering instructions.

“All right, listen up. We go in strong and we go in fast. Evans, you’re on door breach. Patterson...flashbang. Grimshaw, stop squatting like that.” 

“Sorry, I thought it looked cool.”

 

“It didn’t. Alright, on the count of three.” Louis counts down and Evans breaks down the door. They ambush Bludsoe, and he’s on the ground face down. Nick calls out for Louis to come over where he’s standing by the safe. Liam, Louis and Nick all stand with bated breath as Liam opens up the safe. 

The safe opens to reveal the stolen $21 million. 

“ _Bingpot!_ ” Liam exclaims. Louis looks over to Nick with a massive smile on his face; bingpot is catching on after all. 

**

Louis got to work early today to turn Harry’s rainbow on before he got there; he wanted to see Harry smile, so what? However, what was going to be a lovely morning is quickly turned sour. Louis’ been ripping sheets of paper to shreds ever since Harry walked in the office. He’s dressed in a lavender cable knit sweater and jeans but there’s something about the outfit that makes Louis’ mouth dry. His pin for the day is a peach. He’s also got on a mauve colored eyeshadow and a rosy pink lipstick. Louis is livid. Harry’s been abnormally chipper and its getting on Louis’ nerves. His anger comes to a head when Louis overhears Harry talking to Niall about his upcoming date with a nice man from the gym. And what bullshit; Louis goes to the gym. Well he’s gone once but the point stands. What’s so perfect about Mr. Gymgoer - Louis can do push ups too. Well he can do one push up, he’s a perfect physical specimen. 

Louis’ had enough of this bullshit. He gets up from his desk in a huff and barges into Liam’s office. 

“Captain Meep Morp I’m sad.” Louis whines. Liam knows that Captain Meep Morp is reserved for special situations where one or both of them need something more than advice. Liam just rolls his eyes and wordlessly prompts Louis to continue. “Have you seen Styles today? Stunning I’m telling you. Who does he think he is dressing like that in this precinct? He’ll start a riot looking the way he does. And he’s got a date tonight! With some _stranger_ that he met at the gym! He’s probably huge and muscled and gross. Probably looks in the mirror as he works out! He probably listens to, like, whale noises as he works out. Probably will make poor Harry listen to whale noises while they do it! Captain you have to do something, make Harry work overnight or something please?” 

Louis is gesturing wildly with his hands as he explains to Liam his predicament in his office and is taking advantage of Liam’s kind nature. As a Captain, he can only listen to so much about his detectives’ personal lives. As a friend, he is heartbroken for Louis. Liam is uncertain about Louis and his feelings for Harry. He doesn’t think Louis knows just how deep his feelings run. 

“Detective Tomlinson, stop creating make believe nonsense about Styles’ date. Let him go on this date and realize the gym stranger is no good for him. Let him realize you’re what’s right for him!” Liam smiles at Louis. His brown eyes show his true delight at this situation. 

“What? Liam? With me? _What! No!_ ” Louis sputters out. “What are you even saying? I’m leaving, you’re crazy, bye,” he rushes as he walks out Liam’s office. He can still hear Liam laughing at his misfortune. The nerve. 

He walks up to Harry and is about to give him a piece of his mind when he notices Harry’s smile. God he’s breathtaking. His witty remark leaves his mind and he finds himself complimenting him instead. 

“Harold you look lovely today, whoever you’re seeing tonight won’t know what hit them.” He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Harry’s smile widens however. 

“Aw thanks Lou, we’re going to that Italian place you told me about!” Harry continues to explain their date in full detail. Nick is giving Louis these eyes and it’s driving him crazy. 

The day continues on in a similar fashion, with only one fight between Niall and Zayn. Jesy congratulates them on ‘being civilized officers of the law today and today only.’ 

Just as Louis is gathering his things he notices Harry still sitting at his desk frowning at his phone. 

“H? You ready to go get your man?” Louis tries to joke. It falls flat. 

“He uh, he cancelled on me. He said he didn’t realize he was taking a ‘girly loser’ out for dinner.” Louis has never seen Harry this sad before in their entire friendship. He’s fucking pissed. 

“H, you look wonderful, I look wonderful. Why don’t me and you go to that restaurant and get spectacularly drunk? We can send him a picture and flip him off?” Louis offers with a smile. He’s so going to find this guy and get his traffic cop buddy to give him a ticket or arrest him for being a fool. 

“Thanks Lou, but I think I’m just going to go home and take my makeup off. Have a glass of wine and cry in bed you know? I’ll probably be asleep by 8:30.” Harry grabs his jacket and gets up from his desk. Louis follows because he will always follow Harry. 

“Alright, H, call me if you change your mind or if you need anything. I promise it’s okay.” Louis offers one last time. 

They walk out the precinct together and separate ways once they reach the parking garage. They say their goodbyes and go home. 

Louis calls Lottie on the way asking for her ‘tissue paper with the glitter specks in.’ Lottie knows better than to ask questions and just hands it over with a smirk once he pulls up to her place. 

When he gets home he gets to work. He’s been making paper flowers for his mom since he was little. They always made her smile so he figures they’ll make Harry smile too. He makes Harry four flowers because he falls asleep after the fourth one is made. 

The next morning he gets to their desks before Harry and places the homemade bouquet at his desk, turns on the neon sign, and he also puts a whoopee cushion on Harry’s chair. He knows this will make Harry smile and that’s all Louis is trying to do. A botched date sucks, especially when it’s because of some heteronormative fuck that thinks push ups are so great. 

Louis busies himself as Harry walks to his desk. He notices Harry isn’t wearing any of his normal makeup and his nail polish has been chipped off almost aggressively. His outfit is subdued, Louis doesn’t even see a pin on Harry’s jacket. Harry takes his jacket off and right over his heart is a pin that says ‘Treat People With Kindness.’ Louis only sees this certain pin when Harry is feeling down, and it breaks his heart to see it today. 

Louis pretends to be busy while he waits for Harry to notice his gift. And when Harry does notice the paper flowers it’s like the sun has finally come out. Harry’s smile takes up his entire face, dimples in full force. His eyes are puffy but that doesn’t distract from how beautiful they are in this very moment. Louis can hardly look away even as Harry looks directly at Louis. 

“Lou did you make me these?” Harry whispers. Louis nods. “Thank you so much, that is so nice.” 

They’re both blushing and smiling. The moment is broken however when Harry finally sits down at his desk. The loudest fart noise the precinct has ever heard escapes from underneath Harry. The soft look on Harry’s face is overshadowed by the embarrassed flush creeping up from his neck. The entire squad stops and laughs at Harry. 

“ _Louis!_ ” Harry whisper shouts at Louis. He can’t believe he thought Louis might be growing up. 

“Hey, just cause you had a shitty night and I’m totally arresting that douchebag later doesn’t mean the prank war isn’t still on!” Louis laughs out. He’s proud of the good he’s accomplished today. Maybe he can put the whoopie cushion under Liam’s chair too. 

Harry throws the cushion at Louis and walks away from their joined desks. The rest of the squad has since finished laughing at the two. Niall adds this to the list of ‘soft pranks’ that have been part of The Prank War. 

The Prank War was brought about in the beginning of their partnership by Harry and Louis themselves. They had been arguing after Louis was caught trying to steal Harry’s stapler. They decided to make a War out of it and wreak havoc on eachother. They both thought of the worst thing they could think of for the other and made that the prize: if Harry wins Louis has to give him his car and if Louis wins Harry has to go on a date with him. Harry’s first prank was cleaning off Louis’ desk; he even put a small aloe plant on his desk. Again ‘soft pranks,’ Niall is convinced they don’t actually want to prank each other and instead just want attention through silly school boy actions. Louis thinks Niall needs to keep his ideas to himself. 

**

Today’s a prank day, apparently. Niall is cheering Harry on where he’s been attempting to force feed Louis fruit for the past fifteen minutes. 

“Harold! Stop it this instant!” Louis is screaming at the top of his lungs. He knows he should be a bit _less_ but he can’t help it. Something about Harry always makes him loud loud loud. 

When Louis told Harry he’s never tried pears before Harry took it personally. When Harry asked which other fruits Louis had been ‘missing out on,’ Louis told him he’s only ever eaten pineapple. Harry was so offended he jumped to push a piece of pear between Louis’ pink lips. 

Sergeant Jesy rounds the corner after watching Zayn and Nick’s interrogation of the perp just in time to see Harry pinning Louis to Harry’s desk. Not unusual, but what is unusual is the piece of pear Harry is trying to shove down Louis’ throat. They both stop when they hear her shoes come closer towards their desks. Jesy watches as Louis’ lips part a bit as Harry stretches his neck to look up at her. She swears Louis licks his bottom lip and good lord this boy is a mess. Harry opens his mouth about to explain but Jesy beats him to it. 

“And _what_ exactly am I looking at here, Detectives?” Her face is stern, lips in a thin line. She tries to stay angry and not let them get away with shit like this again. 

“Well you see, uh, Sergeant Nelson, Louis here is just getting taught a lesson. Yeah, that’s what I’m doing, you see? He doesn’t eat fruit! I mean what does he eat? Probably dirt, and it’s revolting so I just thought-“

“So Detective Styles, you just thought you could pin your partner to a desk and shove fruit down his throat? Is that what they’re teaching in the Academy these days?!” Jesy cuts him off with a harsh look. “Do you have anything to say for yourself Detective Tomlinson?” Louis hasn’t looked up from where Harry’s neck meets his shoulder. He could kiss him right there if he was quick. And here’s the thing- Louis still hasn’t moved from his spot underneath Harry, a detail everyone in the office is slowly discovering. But Louis doesn’t move and neither does Harry. Its comfortable, he reasons. 

“Nope, Sarge, I’m good where I am,” he says confidently.

“I’m sure you are, Tomlinson! Right where you’ve dreamed of being for years now, innit?” Niall smirks from his desk. Louis blushes as he squirms out of Harry’s hold and he moves to sit at his own desk. He grabs a file and starts fanning his face to try to calm his blush. 

Jesy looks at the unit as a whole before looking pointedly at Detective Grimshaw, who showed up around the same time as Harry’s piss poor explanation. Nick gets it- it’s getting closer and closer to the deadline he put down in the bet and today just takes the cake! But Sarge will not win this bet; Nick is willing to risk his hundred bucks for his best friend. 

Captain Payne walks out from his office after hearing the commotion come to a standstill. He takes note of his detectives not doing a single thing for their open robbery case. 

“So do we just sit around and watch these two buffoons do their mating dance? Get back to work people!” he shouts through his smirk. Louis won’t look him in the eye, Liam confirms it as a job well done on his part. 

“Yeah, get back to work swine!” Niall calls out to the office laughing as he follows Liam into his office. 

Harry’s gone off to the break room, Louis notices from his desk. Nick is also staring at Louis like he can’t believe what just happened. Louis gets it; he can’t quite believe it either. 

“Grimshaw, is there something bothering you?” Louis asks. Nick snaps out of his daze and runs a hand through his hair. Nick sits beside Louis’ desk and sighs, long and drawn out, like he’s trying to get a rise out of Louis. 

“Well, you know this prank war that’s been going on? Well I think I’ve come up with a plan that is so foolproof, you’ll have Styles eating out of the palm of your hand! Literally, if everything goes right. Wanna hear it?” 

“Sure, Nick, what did you come up with? I’ve got to get him back, he had me pinned down way too long.” Louis tries to school his face into a passive look when really he’s desperate for a good prank on Harry. He’s tired of taking his pencils and putting granola bars in their place. 

“Well, okay, so listen to this, we could cook him, like, this delicious meal. I’m thinking a nice pasta? Maybe with pesto sauce or a classic red sauce? Anyway, we make him this meal, you know, really five course it! And set up a table with fresh linens and candles and invite him to come eat with you! Its foolproof!” Nick finishes with a flourish of his hands. He’s got him-hook, line, and sinker.

“Nah, Grimshaw, I’m thinking something more along the lines of putting his stapler in jello. Thanks for your idea though!” Louis says. And yeah, that’s a good idea, he’ll take Harry’s stapler before he leaves to go home to his shit apartment. Now just which flavor is the best for him to use? Maybe cherry? Harry’s lips are so red, he’s definitely going to do cherry. Louis gets up to go to the vending machine and slaps Nick on the back as he passes. 

Nick looks at the others. Azoff is showing Winston something on the bottom of his foot and Winston is chanting for him to pop it. Niall is putting black, grey, white, and purple tabs on one of Captain Payne’s binders. Sarge is staring at Harry and Louis’ desks as if she’s trying to unsee what just transpired. Zayn’s slapping at his computer screen muttering about ‘this useless piece of shit computer.’ So all in all, a normal day in the 99th precinct. 

Louis grabs Harry’s stapler on the way home and stops at the store for cherry jello. He also finds a giant penis mold so he buys that too. Once again, the woman behind the counter doesn’t question his purchases. When he gets to his place he takes off his blue hoodie that Harry has washed for him and sets to work. 

He reads the box and puts the pot on the stove and sets the water to boil. He cleans out the mold too because people are gross and, while he is totally messing with Harry, he wants it to at least be sanitary to eat, he’s not evil. He also cleans off Harry’s stapler, not like he needs to; Louis has watched Harry thoroughly clean his desk and office supplies once a week every Saturday since Harry started at the Nine-Nine. 

He gets the stapler in the mold with little trouble and sets it in the fridge for him to take to work tomorrow. Harry is gonna shit, he’s gonna be so mad and Louis can’t wait. He goes to bed with a smile on his face and a beer in his hand. When he wakes up because he spilled the beer in his lap, he still has a smile on his face. 

He gets to work early, turns on the sign and places the penis jello stapler right in the middle of Harry’s desk. While he waits for Harry to show up, he shows Nick the jello. Nick just tuts and shakes his head. Louis hears Harry walk up to his desk and holds his breath. Harry looks at his desk and looks at Louis with a frown on his face and when he sits down and really looks at the jello he laughs. His famous cackle that turns into a hyena laugh. He grabs a spoon from the kitchen and gets to work. Cherry is his favorite. While Harry eats his way to his stapler he knows the exact way to get back at Louis. 

**

A couple of months ago when Louis had hidden Harry’s water bottle, he let it slip that he never drinks water and he was ‘superior’ for it. Louis said he only drinks ‘blue dranks’- so light blue Gatorade. Harry was appalled but not shocked. Those sports drinks were awful and full of sugar and Harry hated them. He just wanted Louis to be healthy and happy, so Harry had plotted and boy did he plot hard. Which brought Harry to this moment in his kitchen. 

He had it all set up in a line, the bottles of Gatorade, the water flavoring and coloring, the bottles of water, the funnels and the other tools he needed to reseal the bottles. His plan was simple: dump all the blue sugar trash out and then flavor the bottled water and refill the Gatorade bottles. He also had to reseal them with a blowtorch and other nonsense but he was a perfectionist and this was going to be his most amazing prank. He got enough to last Louis almost two months because that’s another thing- Louis only drank one bottle a day _if that_. The whole process takes longer than he expected it to. He burned his thumb and some hair in the process, but the bottles look like they haven’t been tampered with so all is well. 

Harry has a key to Louis’ apartment he copied once when Louis left his keys at work. Harry thought it would be best to have a copy since Louis frequently loses his keys. He also memorized Louis’ grocery schedule as well as how much Gatorade he buys. He had two and a half months to do his reconnaissance, and he’s finally ready to break into Louis’ place and replace Louis’ Gatorade with his own. 

Louis’ out with Zayn at the bar down the street so Harry knows it’s safe to go to Louis’ place. He dresses for the occasion too- black jeans, black shirt and black knit sweater. He’s a fashionista what can he say? His nails are chipped black polish but that’s his normal these days. When he gets into the apartment he quickly switches out the bottles; he also tidies Louis’ kitchen a bit because he truly is filthy. When he leaves he grabs the bottles Louis bought and the receipt and returns them to the store. 

And life goes on. For four weeks Louis is clueless to the change to his drinks. He doesn’t even notice! Harry is tickled with this prank. He is the Prank King, Louis can pry the title out of his cold dead hands if he wants to. Harry walks into work one Tuesday and all hell breaks loose. 

Louis is standing on his desk with a megaphone shouting something Harry can’t quite make out and Nick is standing next to Louis’ desk with a hazmat suit on. 

“Harold nice of you to join us for my funeral!” Louis shouts through the megaphone, and really he doesn’t need to shout his voice already carries with or without the megaphone. 

“Your funeral?”

“Someone is trying to kill me with poison! My Gatorade bottles have been tampered with!” Louis states with a frown on his face. “I mean who would want to kill me, New York’s finest detective? I’m in shock, Harold.” 

“You think you’re the best detective New York has, Tomlinson?” Zayn speaks up from his desk. 

“Wait, you said your bottles have been tampered with, Lou?” Harry asks, he needs to act as innocent as possible. 

“Yeah, I took the bottle down to evidence, we’re going to get fingerprints and DNA and everything off this bottle!” Nick states proudly. And Harry is fucked. 

“Haha, Lou, I hope you’re just being crazy! I’m going to go talk to Liam I’ll be back.” Harry rushes into Liam’s office without even knocking. Louis and Nick look at Harry before looking at each other. 

Captain Payne looks up when Harry bursts through his office door and motions for Harry to close the door and sit. 

“Hey Captain so, hypothetically, if I replaced Louis’ sugar drinks with just flavored water and he thinks someone is trying to kill him I should speak up right? Hypothetically, of course.” 

“Well hypothetically, Detective Styles, were you replacing his drinks out of spite?” Liam looks at Harry with such a look that Harry feels guilty for doing this in the first place.

“What, of course not, Captain! He doesn’t drink water! Its abnormal, I was just trying to get him to drink water and be healthy? You know I want what’s best for him. Hypothetically.” 

“Well then Detective, I know nothing, act innocent. Leave my door shut when you leave.” Liam smiles and dismisses Harry. 

The day goes on and Harry sweats off his makeup he’s so nervous. Nick and Louis notice. That’s why they corral Niall and Jesy into tricking Harry into an interrogation room. 

Harry is forced down into the seat by Jesy and a light is shining into his face by Niall. 

“Alright Harold, out with it! Confess!” Nick is shouting and Louis is standing still with a frown on his face. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nick.” 

“Please Harry, just admit it, you fucked with my drinks!” Louis breaks his silence. 

“I have done nothing wrong.”

“Oh, really, so you haven’t poisoned my drinks?”

And Harry breaks because he’s Harry and he can’t lie to Louis. Not about something so stupid as Gatorade. 

“I’ve switched your Gatorade with flavored water for the past four weeks and you haven’t noticed but I just wanted you to be healthy!” Harry raises his voice at the end to be heard over the commotion the others are making. 

“Bingpot! So you admit to poisoning me? Get him out of my sight!” He leaves the room in a huff, Nick grabs Harry and really Harry can walk on his own. He says as much. 

Everyone goes back to their desks and Louis is in Captain’s office. At the end of the day when Louis still hasn’t said a word to Harry, Harry speaks up. 

“You’re so fucking immature Louis. Grow up.”

Harry goes home at the end of the day with no goodbye from Louis for the first time in a year. 

There’s radio silence between the two for weeks. Liam has had enough, Jesy’s had enough. Hell, even Azoff and Winston have had enough of Harry and Louis’ shit. Liam has partnered them on different cases, all of which they messed up. He’s even had to make Zayn Harry’s temporary partner. Harry’s tired of this, he just wants his best friend back. He’s taken to wearing no pins and no makeup because what’s the point if Louis isn’t going to comment on them. 

He’s sitting at his desk working on some paperwork for a bust him and Zayn pulled off yesterday. He hears Louis clear his throat and ignores him. Two can play at the silent game. 

“Styles?” 

Harry’s head whips up so fast he hears it crack. So does Louis based off the grimace on his face. 

“Yeah Lou?” 

“I uh, wanted to apologize for how I acted. I shouldn’t have done all those things and said all that shit about you poisoning me. You obviously care about me and I kinda just threw it back in your face.” Louis is fidgeting more than normal in his seat as he watches Harry take in what he just said. 

“I mean, it isn’t okay you let this mess with our jobs, but I did go behind your back and fucked with your belongings so I get it? I’m sorry for calling you immature, too” Harry is genuine about his apology as well and Louis knows. 

“Thanks, fartmonster.” And they’re back to normal apparently. Harry laughs and goes back to his report. Harry also notices the bottle of water on Louis’ desk, half empty. 

**

They’re on another undercover mission a week later. This time as scorned exes who are still in love. Louis’ noticed when Payne comes up with their cover stories they are always either in love, have been in love, or are falling in love. It’s exhausting but Louis knows the Captain is up to something with this. Three years of pretending to fall in love with your partner isn’t going to just magically make them fall in love with you. Louis knows this, _he’s tried._

Now why they have to be exes to lovers to take down the newest dick graffiti artist, Louis has no idea. He’s been doing a pretty good job of it. He’s playing the part of a notary who had been trying to get Harry to sign away his land. Harry is playing a sad cowboy who only wears jeans. No cowboy hats are involved, though, Harry downright refused. They’re sitting on a bench in the park causing a scene - a loud one too. Harry wants to roll his eyes. Louis should have been an actor. Louis is shouting about opening up about his past and how Harry just shat all over it. Harry just stays silent.

“And there you go! You never say anything! You just let me open up to you and you never say anything back! How could you do this to me again, I trusted you, Harry! You are the worst mistake I have ever made! I regret loving you! I regret giving you everything I had! I lost my job for you! I gave you everything how dare you do this to me?” Louis finally stops to look at Harry. Harry has been watching the same white guy walk back and forth in front of the bare wall. He has dusty blonde hair and is wearing a grey hoodie and dark washed blue jeans. He also has a suspiciously heavy looking bag that’s been rattling since he got here. Harry’s just waiting for him to make his first move before he can arrest him. Louis is still shouting at him for his bad behavior as an ex. 

The suspect finally grabs a can of spray paint out of his bag. He looks at the wall before making his first mark- it’s the head. Harry looks at Louis and signals him to continue yelling, but to look over in the suspect’s direction. Louis continues to shout as if Harry is right next to him as Harry begins to approach the suspect. 

“Stop! You have the right to remain silent!” Harry reads the suspect the rest of his rights as Louis puts the cuffs on him. Louis high fives Harry at least three times as they make it back to the squad car.

“That was a good one Lou, for a second there I really believed that I broke your heart. I was ready to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness.” Harry joked as he put the perp in the back of the car. Louis’ brain short-circuited the moment Harry said knees. And now all Louis can think about is him and Harry in the evidence room with Harry on his knees. He can picture it perfectly, Harry would tease him until Louis couldn’t take it anymore and –

“Louis, are you gonna put it in drive?” Harry is looking at Louis with a peculiar look on his face and Louis snaps out of it. He puts the car into gear and drives them back to the station. When they get there Louis takes care of processing the dick artist, using the time to clear his mind. 

Nick comes up behind him smiling his creepy smile. He sits at Louis’ desk and just keeps looking at Louis. Sometimes Louis wants to know what is going on in his mind, but most of the time he just waits until Nick speaks up.

“What’s got you all in your self deprecating bubble? Did Harry kiss you? Did you kiss Harry? Oh my god, did Harry push you away after you kissed him? Oh god Louis this is terrible I am so so sorry!” Nick was getting increasingly more upset as he ran his mouth.

“Would you shut up Grimshaw? God what if Harry hears you? No we didn’t kiss! I don’t even want to kiss Harry, gross, cooties. Anyway, I’m fine just got caught in a weird thought. Now would you shut up?” Louis pushes himself away from his desk and walks to Captain Payne’s office to brief him on the afternoon’s events. 

Nick looks at Jesy in despair. Jesy just laughs and continues to eat her yogurt. Eventually Nick just gives up trying to make sense of it all and starts plotting. He will get those two idiots together if it’s the last thing he does, he swears it.

“Your efforts are dismal with a tiny splash of pathetic. Just give up Grimshaw. They’re never gonna crack. They’re just going to orbit around each other every day for the rest of your little pathetic life. Move on, man.” Niall speaks up from his desk

Nick pouts and Jesy tuts. Ben and Jeff don’t even look up from their desks. Harry has been on the phone in the break room for about fifteen minutes now. When he comes back out he asks for Louis and waits for him to come to their desks. 

“Lou, Major Crimes just called! They want me for an interview. Isn’t that amazing? My interview is next Wednesday. I’m going to start working on points I want to bring up in the interview.” Harry looks so excited. He looks like he hasn’t just destroyed Louis in a few sentences. What is Louis going to do if Harry gets the job?

“Harry, you’re such a shitty partner. I can’t believe you would do this to me. I’ll be back in an hour. Do not follow me.” Louis storms out the station leaving a very confused Harry in his wake. The office is dead silent too which means his entire squad heard Louis’ outburst. Fabulous.

When Louis gets back he goes straight to Liam’s office and when he comes out, he continues on and goes home. Harry’s probably upset but so is Louis! He can’t believe Harry would do this to them, to the Nine Nine. 

The rest of the week is tense, as are the days leading up to Harry’s interview. If Harry’s going to leave Louis will have used to a life without Harry Styles. He’s miserable and they all know it. Louis is giving Harry the silent treatment while also sending out the rudest remarks. Louis keeps calling Harry “Detective Never Loyal” and it’s starting to get on Harry’s nerves. But Anne raised him to be stronger than the bullies. Sticks and stones and all that. 

Harry’s currently in the lobby of the Major Crimes building. He’s going over how the meeting went and how he wants to approach his Captain when he hears someone shouting and running through the hallways. And then Louis is standing in front of Harry, albeit out of breath, but he’s here. 

“Harry, Harry, quick before you go in,” Louis pauses to breathe for a second before continuing, “Jesus I’m out of shape.” Louis is gulping down air and Harry shouldn’t be attracted to this. 

“You ran down here to tell me that you are out of shape?” Harry muses while he watches Louis’ face. Louis looks at Harry, really looks at him and Harry is starting to feel freaked out.

“No, Harry before you go in there I’m sorry I called you a shitty partner - if anything I was the shitty partner. The truth is, this job sucks sometimes. It isn’t always great and we get shown the worst in humanity. But the thing is, it sucks a little less when I get to do this sucky job with you. So when you said you were going to leave and try for this job I panicked and freaked out when I should have been supportive. You’re a great detective and Major Crimes should be honored to have you. You’re amazing at your job and you’re amazing at being a person in general. If it helps, I wrote you a recommendation letter! Which is riddled with spelling errors including the word 'recommendation,' which I just don’t know what to tell you about that. There’s no way there’s four m’s in that word right? That’s just bull.” Harry smiles before cutting Louis off. 

“Tomlinson, I already turned the job down. I like where I am. ” Harry breathes out. Harry watches Louis’ pleading face turn into one of shock and then embarrassment.

“Coolcoolcool, just forget everything I just said, then, it was all lies. I’ll point out your flaws now! You know I’m talking about your weird elbows and your tall butt!” Louis pleads.

“No way, you said I was a great detective and a great person. You like me as your partner! You ran to stop me!” Harry is far too smug for Louis’ liking.

“Hm thanks I hate you byeeeeeee this never happened,” Louis says over his shoulder as he walks out the building back to the Nine-Nine station. 

When he gets back to the office every single detective turns his way in question.

“He’s staying, everyone shut up. And if Harry says I said something nice he’s fucking lying.” He scowls at Ben and Jeff, they’re honestly disgusting. 

Nick and Jesy for sure thought this would be the push Louis needed to confess his feelings but it seems as if they’re shit out of luck. Harry and Louis still aren’t HarryandLouis. 

The day goes on as normal, Niall teasing Harry and getting a smack to the head by Louis. ‘If you tease him he might leave Niall, quit it!’ Harry is happy with his decision to stay with the Nine Nine. These are his people, this is his family. When he leaves he offers to get a drink with the rest of the squad. They go and Harry carries a drunk Louis home. 

And if the next day at work Harry arrives and finds more handmade paper flowers and a note that says “I’m sorry” in the shape of a rainbow, no one has to know. 

**

Harry and Louis are on a stakeout to catch these drug smugglers that have been wreaking havoc across the city for years. They’ve been operating through the front of a laundromat. Grimshaw and Malik are in the van on the ground while Harry and Louis watch from the roof of the adjacent building. They have the perfect vantage point to watch as the smugglers use laundry detergent containers as the transport for the cocaine.

“Hey H? Will you grab some nuts out of my stakeout bag, I’m snacky.” Louis asks. He’s wearing his ‘stakeout clothes’ aka a gray hoodie and a pair of jeggings. Harry shouldn’t be attracted, but here he is, attracted. Louis hasn’t taken the binoculars off his face for the past thirty minutes. Harry is pretty sure he just likes feeling like James Bond.

Harry walks over to Louis’ bag, it’s far enough away from where Louis is perched that Harry can just sit back and admire Louis without Louis cottoning on. The wind is blowing just right that it’s making Louis’ hair look softer than usual. He looks stunning in this light. Springtime in New York just does Louis justice. Any season in any location does him justice, but Harry’s kind of new to this whole ‘I think I’m in love with my partner thing.’ Even though Louis never reads, doesn’t drink water, can’t express real emotions, won’t fill out a form properly no matter how many times Harry asks him to, and where was Harry going with this?

Ever since The Major Crimes Incident back in January, Harry has been looking at Louis in a new light. He’s always trying to cheer Harry up- he has the seven paperclip bracelets from last year alone to prove it. He makes him paper flowers and origami frogs just because he knows how to make them. Louis isn’t always this immature man who just wants to make everyone laugh, he also has this true sensitivity to him that Harry is enamored with.

Louis almost always offers to walk Harry home even though they live on complete different sides of the city. When his little sisters call he gets this look on his face like they are the most important thing in the world, it’s endearing. Louis also sticks up for Harry whenever Niall or Zayn make fun of him for his weird gardening books. And his cookbooks. Harry has also noticed how when he brings those books to work (to read during his allotted lunch time of course) they always manage to come up missing at the end of the day. Weeks later the books will turn up on Harry’s desk along with a cup of coffee with a plant or food-based pun written on a sticky note. Harry’s favorite was a caricature of a mint leaf with the caption ‘I believe in you! You will do great! Encourage-mint.’ Louis had green smudged fingers for the rest of the day.

Harry could go on and on about all these new things he absolutely adores about Louis. Really he could. He’s found himself getting distracted at work frequently because of how cute Louis looks that day. It’s a nightmare for his paperwork.

“I’ll bring you those nuts!” Harry startles out of his daze.

“ _I’ll Bring You Those Nuts,_ title of your sex tape,” Louis says quickly, Harry shakes his head and throws the bag of nuts to Louis. 

Louis does not catch the bag. 

When Harry sits next to Louis again they try to catch the snacks in their mouths; the ground is a mess when they’re done and Harry will probably clean that up later. They spend the rest of the night doing reconnaissance, they’re planning on completing the bust by the end of the week when the gang is planning to move the drugs. 

“Hey H, I came up with some new names for us when we do door duty.” 

“What are they?”

“I’m Detective Right All the Time and you’re Detective Terrible Detective.” Louis looks far too proud for Harry to actually get upset. He knows Louis just likes to affirm his position as New York’s best detective, even if Harry really is the best he’ll let Louis think it’s him. 

“Those are better than Detective Fartmonster and Detective Always Fresh so yeah those are good.” 

They sit up on the roof for a couple hours, they haven’t stopped laughing since they got partnered up for this mission. They spend the rest of the evening getting to know each other better- for two people who have been working together for almost four years now they know very little about each other. Harry talks about his favorite books and Louis talks about his favorite movies. They play icebreaker games just for laughs, and when Louis comes up with the joke ‘avocado kedavra’ Harry laughs so hard he falls over. Harry thinks its one of the best nights he’s had in years. 

**

The day Louis truly realized how deep his feelings for Harry ran was a simple one. Louis had walked out from the elevators, he was late, but he wasn’t rushing because he had called his Captain on the way in to let him know. Liam just asked him to bring a latte. Louis notices Harry has his hair in a ponytail, something he hasn’t done since he was self conscious about the length. And yeah, when Harry was growing out his hair and uncomfortable with the different stages it would take Louis grew his out too. So what Louis didn’t want Harry to be alone? He’ll fight anyone who brings it up.

Louis also sees Harry’s hunched over at his desk and god are his shoulders so nice. Louis has never noticed how nice Harry’s body was before, sure his legs were beautiful and long and his thighs were the right size of lovely. And absolutely his jaw line made Louis dizzy and his biceps...Louis can’t think about his biceps for too long. Harry’s in a simple shirt, but when he looks closer he notices it has a subtle shimmer to it. He’s also got his normal black skinnies and his tan chelsea boots today, Louis loves those boots, they make Harry about two inches taller than he normally is and Louis, well, Louis loves a man taller than him. 

Louis finally makes it to his desk, he sets his coffee down along with his bag, he mutters a hello to Harry, and is suddenly breathless. When Harry looks up Louis is completely dumbstruck. Harry’s got on a soft red lipstick which would be contradictory if Louis wasn’t staring at his lips to memorize the exact color of his lips. And oh boy what if that’s just what his lips are naturally? Louis can’t even think, but he looks up to Harry’s eyes and oh boy he just has on mascara today, Louis’ knees are weak. His nails are painted metallic purple and his pin says ‘soft strong’ today and Louis has got to keep his mouth busy before he blurts out something dumb like ‘be my husband.’ He chugs his coffee and burns his mouth and throat but it’s so worth it, he jumps up to go to Liam’s office, muttering a ‘be right back’ to Harry before running to Liam with his latte in hand. 

“I see you took your sweet time coming in here Detective, I might have to go warm my latte.” Liam’s eyebrows are furrowed, Louis knows he shouldn’t have sat down to drink his coffee. 

“Sorry Sir, got distracted.”

“Ah, yes, I noticed through the window.”

 

“Captain, I think I’m in love with Detective Styles,” Louis blurts out. 

“Is this supposed to be a surprise, Louis? _You’re a detective_ , how have you not detected this sooner?” Liam is silently laughing and his big brown eyes are doing nothing to soothe Louis’ inner panic. 

“But wait, what?”

“Louis, you’ve been head over heels in love with him for the three years I’ve been Captain and I’m certain you were far longer before that.”

“Oh my god, I’m in love with my partner.” 

“That you are, now make a move please. Nick and Jesy are ready to lock you two in a closet. Wouldn’t that be symbolic? You would have to come out of the closet together.” Liam can shove his ideas up his ass, Louis thinks. 

“I’m leaving, speak nothing of this, Meep Morp.”

He heads back out to his desk and ignores the confused look on Harry’s perfect face. He can’t look up at him, he’s in love with Harry and it’ll be all over his face. Like he’s got a sign that says hey I’m in love with you on his forehead. Louis can’t get over how soft and pretty Harry looks today. He’s having a breakdown. 

“You look like a mermaid today.” Shit.

“What?” 

“You look like a mermaid, you know? Soft and shimmery.” Dammit Louis, he’s fucked. He basically just admitted his stupid love feelings. 

“Oh! Thank you, I feel very lovely today, thought I’d show it.” 

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

The day goes on in a similar fashion, Louis completely in a daze and Harry confused but delighted. At the end of the day Louis is still in love with Harry. 

**

So Louis is in love with Harry. It’s cool, he’s not freaking out about it at all. He’s just in love with his best friend and partner and he can’t decide if the world is ending or not. He’s only told Liam about his feelings; if he tells Nick the world will actually end. Nick would blow it and tell everyone that his ‘two daddies’ are getting together. Louis has told him many times to stop referring to him and Harry as his dads, but Nick still says it anyway. 

He’s tried to rationalize it, like, it’s not that bad, Harry isn’t the worst person to fall in love with. He’s smart and funny and he’s kind to everyone and everything he comes across. He apologizes to the things he bumps into, Louis loves him so much he could burst. Harry’s beautiful, naturally and with his makeup on. When Louis started wearing his shimmer he never thought Harry would become a fan of makeup as well, Harry’s been wearing makeup ever since. He’s soft is the thing, he looks like home and he can’t quite understand how a person can be his home but he’s found a home in Harry. And Harry doesn’t even know it. 

Spring is coming to an end, New York is warming up, and Louis is in love with Harry. He thinks if he says it enough he’ll be okay with it. He’s only freaking out a bit. He’s been going through the motions at work, giving half-assed insults and compliments the same. ‘Harry your weird shirt looks nice,’ it leaves Harry confused and Louis hopeless. How is he supposed to tell Harry he has feelings for real when he keeps saying bullshit to him? 

It’s like this: every time Louis opens his mouth around Harry he wants to cry and scream and ask Harry to be his, but instead he word vomits and leaves everyone confused. Nick is pissed at him says he’s setting back years of progress. Harry’s been wearing the same pin for three weeks, one that says ‘compassion.’ Louis is being heartless and he knows it. But what better way to find out Harry’s true feelings than by pushing his buttons. He hasn’t been messing with Harry’s stuff lately, he’s just been leaving origami frogs around his neon sign. 

One day he gets to the office late and Harry is there, giggling. It’s the best thing Louis has ever heard. But when he realizes who Harry is giggling at his world burns. There’s a tall man standing next to Harry, he’s in uniform and has his hair styled. Louis hates him. They’re standing too close to be office appropriate, Louis thinks. His name badge says 'James.' 

“Oh hey Louis, meet Greg! We were in the Academy together.” Harry says with a soft smile on his face. 

“Sup.”

 

“Hey man, I’m Greg.” They shake hands, Louis sits at his desk and ignores Nick, who’s been staring at him since he walked in. 

“So what’s up Harold? Why is he here?”

“Oh he was dropping off my jacket I left it at his house last night.” And just like that, Louis’ entire world, his hopes and dreams - everything is ruined. By _stupid fucking Greg James._

“Coolcoolcool, no doubt, no doubt, I’m going to go anywhere but right here.” He grabs Zayn and walks down to the evidence room. Zayn is bothered but not too much, he’s been waiting for this moment. 

“Zayn, what the fuck did I just walk into?”

“Well, you’ve been a shit for the past couple weeks, did you expect him to wait for you to pull your head out of your ass?”

“Of course I did! It’s Harry! I’m in love with him and he’s dating someone else? With stupid fucking hair.” Louis hasn’t stopped pacing, he just cannot believe this shit.

“Wait did you just say you’re in love with Harry? Styles? Seriously Louis?” Zayn would say he’s shocked, but he really isn’t. He had no idea how deep Louis’ feelings ran but he figured even he didn’t know he was in love with Harry. 

“Obviously I’m in love with him! Have you seen his face?” 

Zayn mutters an apology and claps Louis on the back, fat load of help that did. So Louis just stays in the evidence room all morning and does some filing that Liam’s been on his ass about. At some point Niall comes down and offers to get lunch with him, he says no, but he goes back up to his desk. He’s been avoiding having to face Harry since he saw him with Greg. What a stupid name. 

“Hey there Pineapples, you alright?” Harry looks so pretty today, Louis hates him. 

“Fine, actually I’m not feeling too hot. I’m gonna see if I can leave early today since I don’t have any open cases.” 

He gets his permission to leave, and goes home and gets drunk in bed. He’s been crying to the same KatChats video for about thirty minutes now. How dare Harry get a boyfriend when Louis loves him? Louis can’t stand it. He ignores all his texts from his mom and his sisters even though he always sends them goodnight texts. What does it matter? His world is ending and it is not a good night. 

**  
Louis is sitting at his desk talking to Nick when Liam steps out. 

“Tomlinson, my office. Now.” Liam turns back into his offices, Louis follows. 

“Sir?” 

“This here is Commissioner Podolski, he has some questions for you. Please sit.” Louis does not sit, he’s never liked the Commissioner. Ever since he arrested his son he’s got a vendetta against Louis. 

“Tomlinson, have you been investigating Simon Cowell?”

“Uh yeah I have, I think he’s laundering money for drug dealers.” 

“Don’t be an idiot, he’s a civic leader! He runs a major charity and his community center is the life of that neighborhood. What would he be doing with drug dealers?” Is this guy serious? Louis is not above taking down someone who is important to society, a bad guy is a bad guy no matter what his status is. 

“What? I’ve been trying to talk to him but he keeps dodging me which is highly suspicious if you ask me.”

“Tomlinson, do you have any evidence to support your suspicions?”

“Well there’s been a lot of chatter amongst low level drug dealers.”

“Just stay away from Cowell, Tomlinson. That is an order.”

“Captain, you have to trust me, this guy is no good.”

“Trust you? It’s in your best interest to back off.” Liam is a fake friend, Louis’ never been more certain of it.

“Fine, but for the record, I think you’re both wrong. I’m leaving. Self dismissed.”

He walks out of Liam’s office and grabs Harry along with all his files on Flint. 

“Harry come with me. We’re going to check out a lead I have on your burglary case.” And Harry follows, Louis drives them to Cowell’s address and bullshits his way through a story for Harry’s sake. They’re parked outside a brownstone with binoculars and a camera. 

“Shit, Harry get down it’s Cowell! Don’t let him see us!”

“What do you mean Cowell? Payne told you to drop that case! As did the Commissioner. What about my burglary?” Harry looks mad, like foot stomping mad. Louis doesn’t even care. 

“I lied about the burglary, obviously, as if I would work your case. But look, Podolski is wrong, Cowell is guilty. Yesterday I saw him get into the car of a known drug dealer, okay. This guy is dirty.” Louis explains.

“Did you tell Payne what you saw?”

“No, I don’t trust Liam on this one.”

“How can you not trust Liam? He’s our superior officer!” Harry has never been a part of an undermining before so Louis understands his hang ups about this mission, he really does. “Look, Cowell has crazy ties to City Hall and I don’t think Liam would risk giving up his command, we have to listen to him on this one Lou.”

“Not good enough.”

“Fine, but this better not bite me in the ass, Tomlinson.” Harry fusses. 

“ _Better Not Bite Me in the Ass_ , title of your sex tape, but seriously thank you for helping me.”

They’re interrupted by a knock on the window from no other than Simon Cowell himself. Louis is so going to pay for this. 

They’re both in Liam’s office right now. Liam has been yelling at Louis for fifteen minutes, he’s not letting go of this any time soon. 

“ _You disobeyed my direct orders!_ What were you thinking bringing Harry along in this!”

“Sir, I am Harry Styles and I have something to say. I think you’re wrong. Louis is onto something with this case. I’m Harry Styles and I’m done talking now.”

“Good, because this doesn’t concern you.” Liam turns away from Harry and faces Louis once again, “Commissioner Podolski is bringing you up on charges and specs. You’re facing a six month suspension, you’re on administrative leave until the hearing. Now get out of my office.” 

“Fine, here’s my gun and badge.” Louis slams both down on Liam’s desk. Liam looks unimpressed. 

“Why are you giving me those? I don’t need them, you’re on administrative leave. You’re not suspended yet.” Liam shrugs. 

“You never let me do anything cool!” Louis storms out. 

The hearing is set for today, Louis has yet to prove that Cowell is guilty. Harry is helping him work the case from home, but it’s no use. He gets wind of some information on Cowell and calls up Liam and gets Harry in on it as well. They meet in a discreet location, Harry makes sure to tell Louis that a diner is not discreet. 

“Morning Liam, I got you a bagel and a latte.”

“Don’t try to soften me up. Why did you ask me here at 9 in the morning?”

“Look Captain, my best chance of not getting suspended is proving that Cowell is guilty. I have a confidential informant I need you to meet.” Liam looks at Louis incredulously. 

“You continued to work this case against my orders? You astound me.”

“Why thank you, sir. You astound me too. But I didn’t find him, Styles did.” Louis points to Harry. 

“What is going on here? Styles, you’re helping him?”

“I don’t know sir, we’re both off-roading it here, my internal GPS has been recalculating for a week.” 

“Anyway, Cap this is Troye. He used to be a pusher for the Bay Ridge Boys.” Troye interrupts Louis. 

“Dude, they’re drugs, they don’t need pushing, people want drugs.” 

“Whatever, tell him about the laundering!” Louis looks to Liam with a smile on his face, he hopes it portrays a look of ‘I told you so.’ 

“Look, every Friday I put cash in a duffel bag and bring it to Cowell community center, room 265. They mark it down as charitable donation in their account.”

 

“Ergo laundering!” Ha, take that Liam

“Why should I believe this person?”

“Look Mr. Captain, I don’t care if you believe me or not. I just hate those dudes, the carved up my territory so bad I had to quit selling drugs, and I love selling drugs.” Louis shoos Troye away after that comment. 

“Look Liam, I have this warrant request filled out, all you need to do is sign it and we can get this guy. I know I’m asking a lot from you but please just trust me” 

“Alright, I trust you. I figure if you get Harry in on it and he believes you I might as well. Let’s get this son of a bitch!” Liam exclaims, “I’ll smooth talk the judge, she’s slow, she won’t want to rush justice. Harry, you get down to the hearing. They want testaments from the whole squad. Tell the rest of them to stall as long as possible.” Harry agrees and heads out. 

Getting the warrant takes longer than expected but they make it work. They go thrifting to gather a disguise that will seemingly fit in. The community center is having a dance competition. Liam and Louis dance their way to the back room of the center where the books are kept. Louis loves this, this is the reason why he became a police officer. He tells Liam as much. 

“This is why I became a police officer.”

“To dress in frilly tango outfits and sneak around? Really Tomlinson, we don’t have time for your shenanigans right now.” Liam goes back to searching through the books. Louis does too, he’s reading how much money the community center spends on fried chicken when he hears Liam’s ‘Aha.’

“Alright, we’ve got it, let’s get out of here.” On their way back to the car Liam stops Louis. “I need you to do something for me, it’s going to sound crazy, but I need you to trust me.”

 

Liam explains what he wants Louis to do, when they get to City Hall, Louis heads into his hearing. They sit down and begin questioning. 

“So, Detective Tomlinson, do you have any evidence?”

“No, I have nothing.” Louis then continues to cause the biggest scene he’s ever caused in his life. He starts screaming about the different council members’ moms and how they’re all pigs and are going to rot in hell. He gets fired. Fired from the NYPD. He’s always wanted to be a cop and now he’s an ex-cop. 

Harry meets Louis in the parking garage, they’re waiting for Liam to meet them. 

“Louis what happened?” Harry looks more and more nervous as the seconds pass by.

“Payne asked me to get fired.”

“What?”

“Yeah he didn’t tell me why he just told me to get fired and the next thing I know I’m in there making a scene and getting _fired._ ” Harry notices how tired Louis looks. 

They stand there for a few minutes before Liam shows up.

“Tomlinson!” 

“Hey, Captain, what’s going on?”

“This is Special Agent Edwards with the FBI. She’s here about the case.” Louis and Harry both mouth _FBI_ to each other in shock. 

“Hey yeah, we couldn’t let you expose Cowell. It would have compromised a much larger investigation. We believe that Cowell has ties to the Linucci crime family. We needed you to get fired for real because the Linucci’s have moles inside the NYPD and we need them to trust you, Louis. Detective, we would like for you to go undercover.” Bingpot. 

“The answer is _yes._ My details are, my name is Duncan Buck. I was raised on an oil rig and my father is a prostitute.”

“Actually, Detective, we would like you to be yourself.” 

Louis agrees quickly, Liam tells Harry and Louis to get back to the office. Once there, the squad squeezes into Liam’s office. 

“Alright squad, what I’m about to tell you cannot leave this office. Detective Tomlinson will be going undercover for the FBI. His cover story is that he was fired.” Liam looks at the rest of the squad with his arms crossed. 

“Oh my god, my heart just threw up.” And there’s Nick. 

“Look, guys, the assignment will probably be less than six months. So while I’m gone, Nick, I want you to have my desk.”

“I’ll sit at it always.” Nick is already crying, Louis will miss his Tinkerbell.

“Zayn, you can have my locker.”

“Sweet.”

“Harry you can have all my open cases.” Harry fist bumps. 

“Uh, that’s enough. Louis doesn’t actually have the authority to do any of this. You will all sit at your desks and work the cases I assign you.” He turns to Louis then, “But you will be missed, Louis.”

“Thank you, Captain.” 

“Now storm out, and make a scene for the benefit of the bullpen.” 

“This is the best day ever, I’m going to miss you guys.” He raises his voice, “And your mother! And your mother! You’re all a bunch of pigs!” 

He loads his belongings into a box and heads out of the office. He takes everything, from his small rainbow bear to his aloe plant Harry gave him for his proclivity for getting wounded. He also grabs his spare mascara and shimmer in his drawers, he knows Harry will try to take it and that shit is expensive. He gives everyone another goodbye. When he gets outside he runs into Harry. And it’s like he can’t hold back anymore. 

“H?”

“Oh, I thought you left already?”

“Nah, had to bring some stuff out.” He motions to his overflowing box. Harry looks down and backs up quickly.

“This is real. This is happening. Louis what the hell?”

“Look, Harry, I don’t want to be a jerk. I know you’re with Greg and you’re happy. But I’m about to be gone for I don’t know how long and I don’t know what’s going to happen on this assignment. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t tell you the truth.”

“Louis what are you saying?” Harry’s looking at him with his big green eyes and Louis is a goner. 

“Look, I kinda wish something had happened between us, romantic stylez, and I know it can’t cause you’re with Greg and I’m going undercover and that’s just how it is. But anyway, we’re not supposed to have any contact so I’m going to go.” Louis leans up and kisses Harry on the cheek. He walks away and it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done. 

He does not turn around, but if he had, he would have seen Harry standing in the middle of the street with a hand against his cheek and a shocked look on his face. Harry stood there staring at Louis’ retreating figure, he watched Louis walk out of his life for the foreseeable future. 

**  
Louis’ been gone for thirty two days and seventeen hours and Harry is a disaster. 

Not to the point where his work is suffering or his friendships or anything. But he’s a mess. He broke it off with Greg almost immediately after Louis kissed him on the cheek. And what even was that? For weeks Louis’ been giving him the cold shoulder and actually confusing the shit out of Harry, what was he supposed to think? He would have never guessed that Louis had actual real feelings, relationship styles. So when Greg had found him at the local plant nursery and asked him out for coffee Harry had said yes. If Louis wasn’t going to ask him out, at least Greg is cute and can fill the void that a certain blue eyed detective left. 

Things with Greg were bland to say the least. They had little in common and Greg was just dead boring. Harry sucked him off because he _felt bad_ for the guy, someone with his personality mustn't get any, so Harry took one for the team and gave the guy an orgasm before breaking it off. Which was also boring, Harry never thought _giving head_ could be boring, but Greg proved him wrong, and Harry isn’t sure if Greg is actually boring or if he’s just not Louis. That was another reason why Harry broke things off, he felt like he was leading Greg on when really all he did for Harry was establish that his feelings for Louis were very real. So yeah, Harry figured out how deep his feelings for Louis ran when he was on his knees for someone else, go figure. 

Once he broke things off with Greg, which was amicable, he had all the time in the world to think about Louis. At any given moment he was thinking of him, he couldn’t stop. It’s like the moment Louis’ lips touched Harry, he was never the same, almost ruined for anyone else. Which Harry thought was ridiculous, but he was under Louis’ spell. He wondered how Louis’ mom and sisters were handling the undercover operation, they were a close knit group, the Tomlinson-Deakin clan. He knew Louis texted them goodnight texts every night, another reason why Harry was stupid in love with the man. Harry loved a family oriented man and something about it gave him hope for his and Louis’ potential future, he figures if Louis is as amazing as he is with his sisters he would be just as amazing with babies. Not that Harry has already pictured their babies running around a house they would eventually buy, nothing like that has even crossed his mind. They would do a surrogate for their first child and any child after they would adopt. Harry has it figured that whichever man decided to father, they would get the egg from the other’s sister - that way it would truly be a baby made with both of them. You know of course that’s neither here nor there. 

The office has been much of the same stuff, Zayn being Zayn, Nick wallowing after Louis’ departure, Azoff and Winston were still disgusting. If anything, Niall became more. It’s like he’s trying to compensate for Louis’ absence by making sure the squad knows they are not prank free for Louis’ undercover time. Harry’s been given cement in different cups all the past week. He’s tired of drinking cement, but he’s more tired of falling for Niall’s pranks. 

Harry’s exhausted and he’s not the one undercover, he can only imagine what Louis is going through. He hopes he’s okay, Harry wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he never got to tell Louis how he reciprocates his feelings. Captain Payne has taken to calling Harry into his office weekly, to make sure he’s holding up alright. He never pushes Harry to open up, but assures him that he will listen if Harry needs to discuss it. The first week that Louis was missing from their lives, Liam had not so gently nudged Harry to write letters to Louis for when he comes home. So Harry has been writing letters every Sunday. They’re mostly just updates on the squad and Louis’ old cases and how much Harry misses him. His feelings are obvious though, and pour through the pages of his letters, but he can’t help it, he’s in love. 

Harry thinks that he’s not fully himself without Louis right next to him. It’s not like he’s only half a person, none of that, but it’s as if he doesn’t feel everything the way he normally does when Louis is with him. He thinks that instead of being two halves of a whole, they’re two beings that encourage each other to shine. Like when Louis started wearing makeup, Harry hadn’t hesitated to start wearing makeup with him. He had first done it to support Louis in anything he does, but continued to do so because he felt like he could be pretty and soft with Louis right there next to him. Or when Harry is having a bad day, Louis goes above and beyond to make Harry smile. Like when Harry was growing out his hair he noticed Louis hadn’t gotten a haircut either, he didn’t want Harry to be alone through the awkward grow out stages. While Harry knows he doesn’t need Louis to fix him when he’s down, he thinks he would quite like it if Louis held his hand. He knows his love is not founded in codependence, but rather it’s built on mutual respect and support. If Louis goes, Harry follows, it’s that simple. 

He just wants Louis to come home. He wants Louis to come home to him. 

**  
Louis doesn’t know how long he’s been undercover, he supposes he could have kept track but he’s busy having the time of his life undercover, they have him as basically the hype man for the family. Infiltrating the family was easy, he got drunk, caused a scene and they took him under their wing. He’s not doing anything particularly dangerous but he misses being in his shitty apartment, safe and sound. All they do is sing Billy Joel songs and eat that’s it, that’s what they have him doing. He’s a bit disappointed that this is what his time undercover is, nothing cool. He’s been undercover for a while now, while the family trusts him, they don’t fully trust him. He hasn’t been included in any deals or behind the scenes operations. 

He just hopes that soon they will accept him and use him for a deal so he can go back to his real life. He misses his mom and his sisters and Ernest. He hates that he can’t talk to them but it’s for their own safety. The part of the family that he’s encountered is harmless, sure, but the part of the family that’s dealing with Cowell are some stone cold killers. 

He misses Harry the most though, he misses the way that Harry somehow manages to smell like sunshine and rain at the same time. He misses the pins and the shirts and his curls, god does he miss those curls. Louis could make a list of all the things he misses about Harry, he actually has made the list. Four different versions of this ‘list of Harry’ are scattered around his fake apartment. The FBI didn’t want him to stay at his apartment in case he had anything that signified he was undercover, so they are letting him live in a safe house. It’s an okay place to stay but it isn’t home. That’s number one on his Harry list, that he’s home. He just hopes Harry misses him too.

All Louis wants is to go home to Harry and his squad. 

**  
Harry’s doing just fine. He’s okay, really. It’s not like the love of his life has been gone for one hundred and seven days and nine hours. _He’s fine._

He’s fine, even though he hasn’t worn makeup in weeks and he’s been wearing the same pin that says ‘over it’ for two months. Harry’s not fine, he blew up on Jesy the other day at work. She asked him if he was going to turn on his rainbow and he started shouting about there being no happiness in his life. Liam sent him home with a disapproving look. Harry can’t believe he let his emotions get the best of him like that. He supposes it’s because he hasn’t been sleeping well. He had this crazy vivid dream where Louis was tied up and was struggling to get loose from his restraints. He woke up with tears on his face and an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. 

When people say absence makes the heart grow fonder they never mention the pain that comes along with it. Harry thinks he falls more in love with Louis every day and he isn’t even here to be a part of it. He called Jay the other day and they both cried on the phone, Jay had told Harry that once her son came back he better make a move. She said she’s tired of hearing Harry go on and on about her son, and that she’s not getting any younger, she wants grandkids. Harry hung up with thoughts of their future life, again. 

He can’t get past the feeling in his gut that something is going wrong. He makes sure to make note of it for his letter on Sunday. He knew going into this that Louis would be gone for up to six months, but it’s been three now and Harry is miserable. 

**  
Louis is in trouble. One of Simon’s guys, Johnny, had been over at his fake place and was snooping throughout the place. He found one of Louis’ lists of things he loves about Harry and it was downhill from there. Apparently on top of Simon Cowell being a huge asshole criminal he’s also homophobic. So Louis is basically fucked. He’s been undercover for four months now and he had just gotten on the other side of the family business. They were finally trusting him enough to go do runs down to the community center to pick up the duffel bags. It all went to shit when Johnny found that list though, which brings Louis to where he is now. 

He’s tied to a chair in Simon’s office waiting for him to come join him. Louis is normally a fan of being on the other end of the restraints, he’s not fond of being out of control like this. He knew going into this he had to pretend to be as straight as possible, and for all of it to get shot to shit because Johnny can’t keep his eyes to himself. Louis’ pissed that he has to come up with some idea of why he ‘loves the curls’ and ‘wants babies’ with Harry. 

He’s been trying to wrestle his hands free from the rope for about thirty minutes when he’s interrupted by the door being opened by none other than Simon Cowell himself. He’s got a smug look on his ugly face and his shirt is far too tight for Louis’ taste. 

“Ah former officer Tomlinson, you seem to be in a bit of a tight spot. Care to explain yourself?” 

“I have no idea why I’m tied up right now, I would have come willingly. You are one for the dramatics aren’t you Mr. Cowell.” Louis can’t stand that he has to act like he respects this sack of shit. 

“Well you see, Johnny found a list that points to you being less than straight, you know my feelings on that lifestyle.” 

“Why would the list point to me being gay? It obviously discusses makeup and nail polish, long hair too! What about that points to it being a man?” 

“It says right at the top ‘list of reasons why I love Harry,’ that’s a man is it not?” 

“No, no, you’ve got it all wrong, Harry is this girl at this coffee shop. Her real name is Harriet but she goes by Harry for short. See this is all a misunderstanding.” Louis has never been more thankful that he didn’t use any male pronouns on that list. He hates lying about Harry, but he likes to be alive more. 

“I like you Louis, and you definitely don’t seem like one of those god forsaken _homosexuals_ , so I’ll let you off with a warning. But you only get one. Next screw up and you’re gone. Got it?” Simon was smiling and he had something stuck in his teeth. Also how Louis could actually pass as straight is beyond him, his boxers are actually patterned with smiling rainbows. He probably should have left those at home now that he thinks about it. 

“Yes sir. Thank you, sir.” 

“Alright I’ll get someone in here to untie you. After that get back to your place, I’ll call when I need you.” 

Louis is let out of the restraints minutes later, on his way home he hopes Harry is okay. Even when he’s caught up in the bullshit that is homophobic Simon Cowell’s world, he still worries about Harry. He thinks by now the FBI should have enough information to go in and arrest Simon, but they want to keep Louis in the field for as long as possible. They keep saying he’ll be home soon, but Louis is losing hope. 

**  
It’s been one hundred and forty five days and Harry’s better. He’s gotten past the initial grief of missing Louis. He’s alive, they got an update around the four month mark that Louis was still alive and doing well. Harry cried. Harry didn’t think he could cry anymore than he already has, and he’s cried a lot since Louis’ gone undercover. Partially because he misses Louis, but also he’s been streaming romcoms nonstop. 

He’s currently walking home from the plant nursery, he got a new succulent that he can’t wait to plant in his succulent arrangement. He’s got his head down and his headphones plugged in. He’s watching his vans move over the pavement when he bumps into something. Well he bumps into someone. He feels a hand grab his elbow and another go around his waist, before he knows it he’s being pulled into a hug. He’s about to fight off this unwelcome touch by stranger when he stills. He knows that cologne, he knows those arms that are tight around him. 

“ _Oh my god, Harry._ ” Louis breathes into Harry’s neck. He can’t believe he literally walked into Louis on the street. They stay in their embrace, they’re blocking the pathway but neither cares. 

“Louis what are you doing what if someone sees you?” Harry pulls back and looks at Louis. He’s not wearing any makeup and his beard is grown in. He’s stunning. “What if one of Cowell’s men sees you?”

“I couldn’t let you walk by, I missed you so much I can’t believe you’re in my arms right now.” Louis has tears in his eyes and he hasn’t let go of Harry. “I saw you from across the street, I only have a moment but I needed to see you. I do have to go now, but I should be coming home soon I promise I’m coming back to you.” 

“Lou wait!” Harry shouts after Louis to no use. He watches him jog away and Harry notices the tears that are running down his face. 

Harry hopes for soon, after all, Louis said he was coming home soon. Said he was coming back to Harry. But soon is the worst length of time, Harry thinks. 

**  
Louis gets cleared to go home after a little over six months. The FBI had enough to arrest Cowell and everyone on his payroll. They also released Louis back into the world, made sure he was reinstated and sent him on his way. It’s winter in New York and also Louis’ favorite time of year. 

Louis’ been on the phone with his mom for three hours now, his apartment is the same. Well actually it’s clean, which is not at all how he left it. But it’s been dusted and cleaned since he’s been gone, Harry probably used his key. Harry’s always thinking about what he can do to help Louis out and god does Louis loves him. 

He’s laying down on the bed having just ended the call with his mother. He’s exhausted and excited to sleep in his own bed for the first time in six months. He’s about to get up to grab a beer out the fridge when he hears a key in the lock of his front door. He jumps up and grabs his gun off his dresser, silently he stands by the doorway. The door opens and Louis hears heavy footsteps walk into his kitchen. He listens as the intruder fills something up in the sink and walks throughout the apartment, and as they stop randomly before moving on. 

Louis pokes his head out the door and smacks his head on the doorframe when he realizes who the intruder is. He puts his gun back on the dresser and looks at himself in the mirror. His hair is floppy and he’s got his glasses on. He’s in sweats and a hoodie and some socks that have ducks printed on them. Good enough. 

He stands and watches as Harry waters the plants that are scattered through his apartment. He has the aloe that Harry first gave him, Harry said ‘aloe is good for injuries and since Louis is injury prone, what better plant is there?’ He also has a couple random plants that Harry has gifted him throughout the years, easy plants. They don’t need much watering or sunlight and pretty much work perfectly for Louis. There’s even one that doesn’t need any soil, that one had confused Louis for a while. Harry has his headphones in and he’s bopping along as he waters the plants. 

Louis wants to watch Harry water their plants for the rest of their lives. He wishes Harry felt the same way, but he’s sure he’s still with Greg. Stupid fucking Greg. He watches as Harry takes his headphones out on his way back to the kitchen to empty the watering can. Louis takes this as his time to announce his presence. 

“Harold, do you always let yourself into other people’s homes?” Louis speaks up from the doorway. He watches as Harry jumps and drops the watering can with a loud bang. Harry spins around to face Louis with a frantic look on his face. His eyes are wild and his mouth is open. He’s beautiful.

“Louis what the fuck! Oh my god?” Harry shouts and runs towards Louis. He jumps into Louis’ arms and refuses to let go. When Louis laughs at Harry, Harry hits him on the back of the head and shushes him. “Be quiet, let me enjoy this.” Who is Louis to deny Harry of anything? “How long have you been home? Why haven’t you called? It’s been two hundred and thirteen days and you didn’t call me? I mean, you didn’t call anyone in the squad? I would have seen it in the group chat! Louis what the fuck?” Harry pulls back from Louis and steps away from their embrace. He pulls on his shirt and looks embarrassed from having held onto Louis so tight, Louis isn’t complaining. 

“I’ve been back for about four hours, all of which I was on the phone with my mom. I missed her a lot and I missed my daily updates of my siblings. Sorry I didn’t send you a text, but I figured you would be busy so I just didn’t?” Louis hopes his apology seems sincere. They both sit on the couch, still holding onto each other. 

“What on earth would I be busy doing, Louis? God I’m so happy you’re home. I’ve been going out of my mind.” 

“How was I to know you’d be here watering my plants and not out with your boyfriend!” 

“Boyfriend? Who? Oh, you mean Greg, yeah I broke up with him the day you left, actually.” Harry has the audacity to blush.

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, uh when you left I realized the only reason I was even with Greg was to ignore my feelings for you? And then I felt bad for stringing Greg along when all he was good for was proving my real feelings for you? So yeah, I dumped him, he was real nice about it though. But yeah, I actually like you? Romantic Stylez.” Harry hasn’t looked Louis in the eye since they sat down, but he looks up now. And Louis is blown away. 

“Have my babies.” _Shit. “Wait, shut up, don’t comment on that. I am so glad you’re not with Greg, I hated him. Can I just, can I kiss you please? If it isn’t obvious I have romantic stylez feelings for you too.” Louis asks Harry, Harry nods and they lean in to meet each other’s mouths._

__

Harry’s hand is on Louis’ cheek and Louis’ hands are fisted in Harry’s shirt. And the kiss is electric. When Louis kissed Harry at that wedding last year it was nothing like this for him. This is everything. Harry’s lips are soft and he kisses hard. Louis can’t believe he’s lucky enough to experience Harry like this. Their hands start roaming and he doesn’t know how far this will go, but he will take whatever Harry is willing to give. He never wants to stop kissing Harry, he can’t even imagine what anything else will be like with Harry. 

Louis pulls back to look at Harry, to make sure this is really happening. Harry’s lips are red red red and Louis did that to him. His eyes are open wide and his hair is messed up from where Louis’ hands were running through it. 

“Why’d you stop? Was that not okay?” 

“No, H, I just wanted to stop us before things go too far? I can get carried away but I think since we haven’t seen each other we really need to talk.” Louis hates himself for doing this, but he knows he’ll hate himself even more if they don’t talk things out. 

“You’re right, let’s talk”

“Are we together? Like for real? Because if you just want something casual I’m sorry I’m not your guy for that. Harry, I really really like you.”

“I really really like you too, and I want to be with you, together for real.” Harry rushes out, and he’s smiling at Louis like he’s the sun. 

“So me and you? We’re doing this. For realz.” They sit there with goofy grins on their faces. 

“I think we should maybe lay some ground rules? Like, let’s keep things to ourselves for a while? You and I both know Nick will have a field day with this, and I think I would like to keep you to myself for a while? Also, we probably shouldn’t fool around at work, that one is obvious. The last thing I want to do is to make Captain uncomfortable.” Harry’s taking the words right out Louis’ mind.

“It’s like you took my thoughts right out my head, H. Yeah I want to keep this from Nick for as long as possible. The moment he catches wind of us together he’s going to start pestering us about marriage and babies, you know how gross he is. And trust me, we wouldn’t make Liam uncomfortable, he’s expressed his deep desire for us to be an us. But I get where you’re coming from.” Louis watches as Harry nods, “Also we probably should wait to have sex?” Harry’s smile falls and Louis rushes to add, “Not that I don’t want to have sex with you! I would love to! I just mean, I want us to really take this seriously. I’m not just in this just for sex.” 

“I never thought you liked me just for sex, but it’s great to know you would love to have sex with me.” Harry’s smirk makes Louis blush. “I agree with you though, we should wait. The wait will make it better anyway.” Louis thinks they’re probably into the same stuff based off Harry’s eyebrow waggle. That’s...good. 

They sit and talk for hours, they laugh and cry together. Louis explains what a dick Cowell was and how his time undercover went. Harry confesses that he wrote Louis love letters every week. They spend the hours talking pressed close to each other. They had eventually moved to Louis’ bed to get comfortable. Harry asks to borrow some pjs since it’s obvious he’s staying to spend time with Louis after so much time apart. 

They fall asleep wrapped around each other, after goodnight kisses. Louis thinks this is right where he was always meant to be. 

**

They spent Christmas and New Year’s wrapped up in eachother. Louis got Harry some pins: a ufo, a pin that says ‘don’t call me honey,’ and one from his childhood vacation to New Orleans as well as a hanging fern for inside Harry’s bedroom. Harry got Louis tickets to one of his favorite indie bands and a vibrating buttplug that goes along to the beat of the song that’s playing on Harry’s phone. He explained it in a way that made Louis blush, but he’s looking forward to the concert. They kiss at midnight on New Year’s, under the fairy lights in Harry’s bedroom. The next morning Louis makes them poptarts and coffee. Harry’s never been happier, neither has Louis. 

They’re still keeping things on the secretive side, neither of them are ready to tell the squad and ruin the bubble they have surrounding them. Liam has been giving them knowing looks though, it’s starting to stress Louis out, but Harry isn’t ready to listen to Niall and Zayn make fun of them quite yet. Louis is happy to follow Harry’s lead. 

Their secret stays safe for two and a half months, and it’s going perfectly. They’re currently on a recon mission, Harry’s standing on a corner with a cap on and a microphone taped to his chest. Louis is in the van parked across the street. They’ve been making jokes all afternoon, both in a hurry to get off the shift so they can go home and look at the pet shelter’s website. Harry’s been wanting to adopt a dog and Louis said he would help out. Harry’s excited for Louis stepping up and being mature about it. Everything is going perfect in their relationship and in the mission. All until Louis watches from across the street as the gun pointed at Harry fires, and hits Harry in his abdomen. Louis watches in horror as Harry’s face shows that he’s just as shocked as Louis to be shot in plain daylight like he has been. 

The team on the mission had just been stepping out of the van to join up with Harry and go to lunch, they hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary and decided to call it a day. Louis screams and is held back by Jesy, who has recently been back in the field. Nick has his gun out and shoots the man who shot Harry. Louis hasn’t stopped screaming. 

“Jesy let go I have to get to him! Please let me go!” Louis screams at her as he watches Harry hold his stomach, his hand comes away stained red. Red used to be Louis’ favorite color. Jesy finally lets go, Louis runs faster than he ever has. 

He catches Harry as he starts falling down. Harry’s breathing heavy, like he can’t get enough air and Louis is crying, he hasn’t noticed it yet, but Harry has. Harry looks up at Louis and takes a bloody hand and wipes at Louis’ tears. He leaves a blood stain on his cheek. Louis thinks it’s poetic justice.

“Oh, my love, I got blood on your cheek. I’m sorry.” Harry says, like as if Louis is fucking worried about blood on his face right now. 

“Harry keep all your blood inside your body what the fuck, I can’t lose you, I just got you. Hold on okay? The ambulance is coming, Jesy called it in. Please be okay, babe?” Louis is talking faster than Harry can comprehend. Harry thinks he would be okay dying in Louis’ arms, because he’s sure he’s dying right now. 

“I’m okay Lou, I will be okay. Please don’t cry for me, baby please.” Louis continues to put pressure on where Harry was shot. Fucking hell Harry was shot. 

“Um, Louis? Mate, are you okay?” Nick is looking between the two of them. 

“Nick my fucking boyfriend just got shot and is bleeding out! Why the fuck would I be okay right now? Of course I’m not okay!” Louis shouts at him. He hasn’t raised his voice like this in years, he knows it, Nick knows it, shit even Harry knows it. 

“Baby, Honey, please don’t shout. I’m okay. I won’t leave you, I promise you.” Harry whispers out, his vision is going fuzzy. He closes his eyes but feels a hand on his face. 

“Where the fuck is the ambulance?” Louis screams, he keeps patting Harry’s face trying to keep him awake. Nick has moved to help apply pressure. Jesy has the shooter in cuffs. 

“They’re two minutes out.” 

Louis holds Harry, he’s crying and trying to hold his boyfriend together. Literally, he’s holding Harry together. He hasn’t even told Harry he loves him yet. Jesus Christ he loves Harry so much and Harry is going to die without knowing it. Harry’s eyes have been closed for the past forty three seconds and Louis is not handling it. 

When the ambulance arrives he threatens violence when they say he can’t ride in the back with Harry on the way to the hospital. The emts allow it based off the nature of their relationship and the manic look in Louis’ eyes. He holds Harry’s hand the entire ride. They take him into surgery immediately upon arrival. Louis paces the length of the waiting room so often Nick is worried he is going to burn out. Jesy went back to the precinct to file the report on the shooter. 

Louis is covered in blood, none of his own, but the blood of the love of his life. The small girl in the waiting room hasn’t stopped staring at him. Liam Payne shows up to the waiting room with a fresh set of clothes for Louis and a pair of open arms. Zayn trailing behind him. Louis collapses in Liam’s arms and lets out a sob, he’s fucking ruined. Zayn tears up at the sight, and based off the look Nick is giving Louis, he’s not far behind either. 

Louis eventually stops crying, and moves to change into his new clothes. He doesn’t look in the mirror as he changes. He tries to wash off as much blood as he can, but part of him wants it to stay stained on his skin. If it’s the last bit of Harry he has, he will wear it as long as possible. When he gets back to the waiting room Niall has shown up as well, he’s got a cup of coffee and the small rainbow bear Louis keeps on his desk which Harry had given him three years ago. After a particularly trying case, Harry thought Louis would need some cheering up, seeing it now does nothing to lift his spirits. 

"I knew you were together, Harry's been wearing his paperclip bracelets for weeks and you always have a hickey behind your ear." Niall tells him. 

"Is that necessary right now, Niall?" Zayn speaks up but Liam interrupts.

“Louis, I think it’s best if you call his family. Given the nature of your relationship with Detective Styles.” 

“Sir, we were going to tell you, we just wanted to be ourselves before the squad knew. But I’ll call Anne and Gemma.” Louis tries to explain but the look on Liam’s face says he understands. 

Louis walks out to an empty hallway and pulls up Anne Twist’s contact. The phone rings twice before a cheery voice answers the phone. Anne is just like her son, she answers the phone with a laugh. 

“Hiya Louis! How’s my boy?” Louis is going to break her fucking heart. 

“Anne. Something’s happened. We’re at the hospital.” He tries to keep it professional. But he’s already starting to cry. He hears Anne gasp. 

“Tell me, Louis. Tell me. How bad is it.” She doesn't ask, she demands. Just like her son. He can hear her sobs through the phone, he can almost feel them. 

“He’s been shot. He’s in surgery, but I have no updates to give. Please come right away, Anne I don’t think I can do this alone.” He cries out. Before he ends the call he says he will call Gemma, and to call a cab to not drive in this condition. 

He listens to the dial tone once more, Gemma picks up with a groggy ‘hello?’ and nothing else. She probably didn’t even look at caller ID. 

“Gems, it’s Louis.” Gemma is different from Anne and Harry. She picks up on Louis’ tones much quicker than her sibling. They’re similar, Gemma and Louis, and in this case it’s fortunate. They’ve never met officially, only in passing. But he had texted her a promise to keep her brother safe the day after they got together. 

“What’s happened to him? Where is he?” 

“He’s in surgery, he was shot in the stomach. He was bleeding out and they took him into surgery as soon as we arrived. They let me ride in the ambulance, Gems I’m so fucking sorry I couldn’t keep him safe.” Louis whispers out, he can’t hold in his tears any longer. He doesn’t think he even should at this point. Everyone knows, everyone knows his world is falling apart. 

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m not upset at you Louis. But please tell me you got the fucker that did this to my baby brother.” She’s fierce, Louis is in awe. 

“Yeah Nick shot him, Jesy arrested him. He’s in surgery too, but no one cares if he lives or dies. She did the background check. No family. Just a low level drug dealer that got spooked. He fucking got shot because some kid got scared at the sight of us.” Louis will never forgive himself for this. 

“Okay, that’s good that y’all got him. I’ll be there soon.” 

They hang up and Louis just, he stops breathing for a moment. He thinks this is what death must be like. Having to hold your love in your arms and watch as the life leaves them. He goes back to the waiting room and folds himself into a chair. Niall holds him through his sobs. 

When Anne and Gemma show up, within minutes of each other, Louis’ sobs have just subsided. They start up again when he notices how Anne and Gemma look exactly like Harry and it’s like he can’t get the look of peace out of his mind, Harry knew he was dying and he was okay with leaving all three of them here to exist without him. 

They hug, they cry, and they wait for updates on Harry’s life. 

“I always knew we would cry when we met, but I didn’t think it would be under these circumstances.” Louis tries to joke but it falls flat. Gemma slaps him on the arm and sniffs through a laugh. 

“Oh my dear boy, don’t beat yourself up over this. Harry would want us to be together during something like this.” 

 

They sit there for four hours huddled together. Louis thinks these people around him are family. His squad and his boyfriends mom and sister. He’s part of these people’s family now. Liam’s husband has even shown up, Louis’ only met him twice, but even he knew the severity of what was happening. 

A nurse finally comes out and calls for the Styles family. The entire group stands up. Louis notices the blood on her scrubs. 

“Detective Styles has pulled through. Doctors have placed him in a medically induced coma for the time being, to help the body through the healing process. He shouldn’t be in the coma longer than a day or two. He’s doing well. May I speak to immediate family now?” The squad sits down as does Louis, Anne pulls him back up. 

The nurse tells them the side effects from the coma, potential memory loss and confusion is the main one they’re worried about. She tells them that had the ambulance gotten there any later, he wouldn’t have the same fate. She continues to speak, but all Louis can hear is the ringing in his ears. 

They walk back to the group, and relay the information the nurse gave them. Anne thanks everyone for staying but sends them home. She requests they come visit once Harry is awake. They each hug Louis tight as they leave. _He does not cry._

When they get into the room that Harry will be staying in, Anne breaks down. Louis however, remains silent. He allows Anne and Gemma to fawn over Harry’s still body. They stay in the room for quite some time, but Louis notices as their yawns become more frequent. Louis requests to sleep in the hospital with Harry. Anne and Gemma agree, Louis offers them the keys to his apartment and tells them to go get some sleep. 

The night nurse comes to check on Harry’s vitals, and to bring Louis an extra blanket. He cries when he’s left alone in the room with Harry. He cries and tells Harry everything. He tells him he loves him, even if Harry can’t hear it for the first time, he has to say it. Tells him how one day Louis is going to get down on one knee, how they’re going to have kids and live happy. He falls asleep holding Harry’s hand. 

**

Harry’s in love, he’s holding a small child in his arms and smiling at Louis. He notices the wedding band on Louis’ finger, and the ring on his own. They’re smiling and cooing at the baby in his hands, he thinks its a girl, she has beautiful brown skin and freckles, her hair is red. _She’s beautiful._ Harry thinks that she’s his and Louis’ child and he can’t believe they made it to this point in their lives. He feels like it was just yesterday they were falling in love. 

He looks up to Louis and he’s saying something that Harry can’t quite hear. He reads his lips and it looks like he’s saying something like ‘please wake up.’ But that doesn’t make sense. Harry just looks back down at the small child in his arms and holds his hand out to touch Louis, to find that he can’t feel him. 

**  
The next day Anne and Gemma show up with coffee and a chocolate muffin for Louis. Gemma has fresh clothes for him, and she shoves his face wash in his hands and tells him to wash Harry’s blood off. That it’s time. 

They spend the day bonding over stories about Harry’s childhood. Louis shares the stories of Harry Styles Detective Extraordinaire. They laugh till they cry. Louis gets the courage to speak up about what’s on his mind and in his heart. 

“I love him you know? I love him so much I could burst with it and one day I’m going to marry him if he’ll have me.” Louis whispers to the two women in the room. Anne is smiling at Louis like she was already in on Louis’ little secret. 

“Love, you have my permission. If you decided to propose when he wakes up I would support it.” Gemma nods in agreement. 

“I haven’t even told him I love him yet!” Louis laughs. 

**  
Harry’s been hearing voices, he’s been hearing someone cry and people laugh. It’s quite confusing for him since a moment ago he was with Louis and their daughter. He feels a hand on his own. He hears a soft beeping as well. 

He tries to speak up but he can’t, it’s like there’s something lodged in his throat. He tries to squeeze the hand that’s holding his. But it’s so exhausting he falls asleep. 

**  
Louis stops laughing suddenly when he feels it. Harry just squeezed his hand. Anne and Gemma look at him in shock. 

“Harry just squeezed my hand, I swear.” He looks at them, and then to Harry, “Sweetheart, come on, squeeze my hand again love you can do it.” He doesn’t feel it again, but he notices Harry’s eyes moving beneath his eyelids. 

Anne calls for a nurse and they go through the process of removing his intubation tube, the nurse says that Harry is breathing on his own now and will start to react to different stimuli now that he’s coming out of the coma. 

They wait all day, with no results. Harry’s still unconscious. 

**  
Harry tries to call out, he can tell the hand holding onto his is Louis’. He tries to speak now that his throat feels clear, but he still can’t. He tries to open his eyes at least and he sees a flash of white before he closes them again. He hears a soft call to him it sounds like ‘sweetheart.’ He tries to gain as much strength as he can as he attempts to speak again. 

**

“Baby, Honey.” Louis hears whispered to him. He startles and looks at Harry. He could have sworn he just heard Harry speak. 

“Sweetheart, I’m here, love can you hear me?”

“Baby honey” Harry repeats, its rough, his voice is shot from the breathing tube and his eyes are still shut but Louis. Louis cannot believe he’s hearing his voice again. He watches as Harry struggles to speak, he realizes he must be thirsty so he gets up from his seat to grab the small pitcher of water the hospital provided. By the time he’s filled the tiny styrofoam cup with lukewarm water and brought it to Harry, he’s asleep again. 

Anne and Gemma had left the room to go gather the on call nurses. They return to the room with smiles on their faces that soon fade when they notice Harry sleeping once again. 

“Did we imagine it?” Gemma speaks up for the both of them. 

“No he did wake up! I was getting him some water and he fell back asleep.” Louis looks from Anne and Gemma to the nurse that walked in, “Is he okay?” 

The three watch as Harry’s nurse goes over to his machines to make sure his medicines are being administered correctly. He then uses a small flashlight to look at Harry’s eyes, takes the same flashlight and runs it along the bottom of Harry’s left foot. Harry’s toes twitch. 

“So he seems to be coming out of the coma they placed him in, he will probably wake up like you described. He’ll be groggy and will probably fall back to sleep. Don’t worry if he doesn’t stay awake long, the medicines that put him in the coma are still trying to keep him there, but he is physically fine. This is a normal reaction to wake up before fully waking up. If he seems to be agitated when he does finally wake, that would also be a normal reaction to the medicine.” His nurse finishes explaining everything and walks out the room. 

Anne lets them know that she is going to the cafeteria and will bring them back some food. Gemma takes a nap in the lounger chair in the room, Louis just sits by Harry’s side and waits. He sits in the chair next to Harry’s hospital bed, with his head resting next to Harry’s hip. 

Harry wakes up four more times before he’s fully awake. Each time Louis is there waiting to see those green eyes and that beautiful smile. 

**

Unfortunately for Louis, he’s asleep when Harry officially wakes up. Anne and Gemma didn’t want to wake him, and Harry agreed. His mom tells him all the lovely things Louis did, like make the official phone calls to them and even going above and beyond and offering them a place to stay at his apartment. Gemma tells him that if he fucks it up with Louis she’ll cut his balls off, which she’s supposed to be on his side of things, but that’s just how Louis is and he completely agrees with her. 

He listens as they tell him what the doctors and nurses have said, he was surprised to find out it’s been one day. He felt like he’s been asleep for years. He tells them as much, they explain that that’s a common reaction, a grief counselor had stopped by to tell them every single possible reaction Harry could have to waking up. Thankfully he’s just a bit jumpy and sore. He feels completely taken care of, safe even. 

He falls asleep running his fingers through Louis’ hair. 

**

Louis wakes with a hand in his hair and with his breath caught in his throat. He looks over at Anne who is looking at the pair with a smile on her face. She tells him Harry has officially woken up about a half hour ago and that she didn’t have the heart to wake Louis up. 

“You should see the way he looks at you while you sleep, I’d think it was downright creepy if I didn’t know how much he loves you.” Anne laughs to Louis. 

“He ah, he hasn’t told me if he does yet, love me.” Louis stutters out. He knows his feelings are true, the sun rises, grass is green, he loves Harry. 

“Oh you silly boy, it’s obvious to anyone who can see.” Anne tells him. She’s certain and Louis won’t question her. 

They sit in silence for a while, time seems to blur when Harry isn’t awake. Louis only notices Harry is awake because the hand in his hair starts to move. And Louis can’t believe Harry is petting him, can he get any cuter? He moves his head to look up at Harry. 

“H.”

“Lou.” 

They don’t say much else, without Louis’ permission his eyes well up with tears, he thought he was done crying, but looking at Harry now it’s all he can do. He watches as Harry’s eyes glaze over, he looks like he’s about to start crying too. They sit watching each other breathe, its therapeutic Louis thinks, getting to watch the steady rise and fall of Harry’s chest after watching it slow down to a tantalizing pace. At some point, Anne and Gemma have left the room leaving the two alone. 

“Sweetheart, don’t cry. You’re okay, we both are. It’s over and everything is behind us.” Louis says softly to Harry. Harry stubbornly wipes away a tear that is dangerously close to his dimple. 

“I’m just so happy to see you again. Last time I really saw you I thought I was dying in your arms.” Harry whispers, he hasn’t looked away from Louis’ eyes and he’s crying even harder. 

“I knew I was losing you, I could _feel_ it. It’s like part of me knew you were fading and I could do nothing to stop the blood and I couldn’t keep your eyes open. Petal, I am so sorry you got hurt, I’ll never let you get hurt again, I swear it.”

“Louis, you couldn’t have done anything to protect me. If I had been wearing a vest, it would have blown the undercover op. Either way, I wouldn’t change a thing, I mean I hurt everywhere, I might change that. But I wouldn’t change the fact that you were there with me when I thought I was dying. I was so happy to feel your arms around me one last time, you have to believe that you’ve done everything in the world for me. And you can’t stop me from ever getting hurt, but I’ll be grateful to have you by my side when I am.” Harry is so sincere, Louis will never get over it. He’s always so earnest with everything he says and Louis is obsessed with him.

“I love you,” Louis looks down to the blanket he’s been toying with, “I know it’s quite early in our relationship, but Harry I almost watched you die and all I could think of is how you were going to die not knowing how loved you are. So I’m not holding back now, I love you, Harry, so much.” Louis chokes out on a sob, he’s never going to be able to look Harry in the face again, he’s embarrassed with how much he’s cried.

“Baby, I love you too. Always, no matter what universe I will always love you no matter where we are.” Harry has a finger tucked under Louis’ chin making him look him in the eyes. They smile at each other while Harry wipes a tear from Louis’ face. Louis leans up to kiss Harry, he’s missed his lips. 

“I love you so much Harry Styles and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.”

“Hopefully to my place, I really need to water my plants.” Harry deadpans, Louis snorts, he’s in love with an idiot. 

When Anne and Gemma returned neither is shocked by the scene in front of them. Both men are asleep, Louis has crawled into the hospital bed with Harry. They’re curled into each other with their hands clasped between them. Anne snaps a photo and sends it to each of the men, including Captain Liam Payne, he gave her his number for exclusive updates. Something tells her this is an update that he will be happy to receive. 

**

Harry has to stay in the hospital one more day for observation, which Louis is happy about. He watches as the nurses slowly take Harry’s IVs out and start his physical therapy. Harry blushes when the nurse tells him the only way he can go home is if he has a bowel movement and Louis laughs so hard the nurse makes him leave the room. 

While Louis is waiting out in the hallway, he plays on his phone and looks up to see his Captain walking towards him. It might be unprofessional how close him and Liam are, after getting off to a rocky start their relationship has grown into a bond that they can’t quite describe. While they are brothers and friends, Liam is also the person Louis looks up to most, in an almost fatherly way. But if anyone asks him he will deny it. He’s only called him Daptain once when his mouth couldn’t decide on calling Liam Dad or Captain, another bingpot situation. 

“Louis, how is he?” Liam in casual clothes always makes Louis laugh, but today he’s in a soft grey shirt and blue jeans. His hair is starting to grow out from his recent buzz cut, Louis thinks he looks quite handsome.

“He’s good, he woke up fully yesterday and has been in good humour you know H, always a laugh with him. The nurse is in there right now, she kicked me out because I laughed about H having to shit before he can go home.”

“Thank you, for that lovely picture that will never leave my mind.”

They both stand in the hallway for a moment before the nurse leaves Harry’s room, she glares at Louis on the way out. 

“Captain! Oh god, am I so happy to see you.” Harry looks as excited as he sounds. 

“Detective Styles, through your unfortunate shooting it has come to my attention that you and Detective Tomlinson are in a more than professional relationship. Comments?” Liam can’t be serious. Louis’ mouth opens in protest as he looks from Harry to Liam, he notices the slight upturn of Liam’s mouth, but he knows Harry hasn’t noticed. 

“So.. we broke a rule?” Louis says.

“Yeah and I hope it wasn’t a mistake, we should have just talked to you to begin with.” Harry explains.

“ _I Hope It Wasn’t a Mistake_ , title of your sex tape… oh my god title of _our_ sex tape!” Louis exclaims. Harry just rolls his eyes at Louis and turns back to Liam. 

“Captain please forgive us, please! We wanted to be just us for a moment before we told everyone, you know what Niall is like. I’m so sorry, if you have to put me on probation I’ll understand, Sir.” Harry looks down facing the bed, completely missing Liam’s smile taking over his entire face. 

“Oh, Harry I’m just teasing. I have been waiting for you two to get together since I first assigned you as partners. I was just waiting on Louis to pull his head out his ass.” Liam chuckles, Harry sputters through his apologies and Louis just blushes. “I do have one request though, when we get back to the office I need you to fill in your paperwork about this so PR doesn’t get on my ass about it. Also Nick and Jesy have had a bet on you two getting together for quite some time now, I’m not sure who actually won though. Maybe tease them a bit?”

Louis watches as Harry’s blush creeps up from his neck and across his cheeks, and that’s something. 

“Actually Sir, I have that paperwork filled out for you, I have for quite some time now.” Harry has the nerve to look sheepish about this. 

“Harold, do you mean to tell me you’ve been banking on us getting together?”

“I’ve had the paperwork filled out for about two years now, I just have to add the date to it.”

 

“Well, better late than never Tomlinson, I have to get going unfortunately.” Liam tells them goodbye and then it’s just the two of them once again. 

“I can’t believe you’ve wanted me for that long, Harry.”

“Louis, I’ve wanted you since before you even started wearing makeup three years ago. I’ve just been waiting on you to catch up.” Harry’s smile is beautiful. 

“You’re beautiful, I can’t believe you’re mine.”

**

Liam gives them each a week off, a gift Louis supposes. Harry only freaks out about missing work twice, progress for both of them. They’ve been staying at Harry’s, Louis’ things have magically shown up in just about every spot of Harry’s place. It’s only a matter of time before they move in together, after the multiple year long buildup of their relationship neither of them wants to waste more time. Their relationship is special and it’s theirs, they don’t have to adhere to some societal timeline for relationships. 

One morning Harry wakes up alone, which shouldn’t be unusual but he’s woken up to Louis plastered to his back every day for the past three days and he is spoiled. He stays still for a moment and listens to the apartment talk, he doesn’t hear Louis in the kitchen or the bathroom so he assumes he’s alone. He slowly gets out of bed, his muscles are still healing and he knows not to rush the movement. He walks to the bathroom to wash his face and look at his stomach. The bullet went straight through one of his butterfly’s wings. He was told he could get it touched up but he thinks it adds character, plus it matches Louis’ scar on his ‘it is what it is’ tattoo from when he accidentally stabbed himself. And why would he want to cover up such a pivotal moment in his and Louis’ relationship, anyway?

Harry sits by the window in his living room with a book and a cup of coffee. A quiet morning might do him some good. He doesn’t text Louis or call him, he knows he will come back, he’s probably at his place just making sure everything is okay. Louis’ been taking such good care of Harry, helping him every step of the way. Harry watches as Louis takes care of Harry’s plants and of Harry better than he expected. He shouldn’t have doubted Louis, after all he did hold Harry together. 

**

So Louis is a tad impulsive, he knows it and so does Harry. Shit, it was one of the things Harry said he loves about him. So it’s not his fault that his morning walk around the block brought him to the local pound. It’s not his fault when he tells the lady at the front desk that he’s interested in adoption. It’s not. 

He’s looked through the dogs, and he knows Harry wants a big dog that he can take for walks, but a dog that is old enough to already be trained. Half the dogs in the shelter are either too small or not trained, leaving him with three dogs, a ten year old pit bull, a one year old boxer, and the three year old weimaraner. Louis would adopt the pitbull because he loves pits, however one that old he’s afraid will take too much attention from Harry and their jobs do not permit that. The boxer is trained, but is truly still a puppy, he jumped on his back legs with his front paws on the gate in front of him when Louis passed. He fell in love with his little face, the dog was a licker and Louis was happy to be in his presence. He thinks that this dog could be the one for them when he hears a soft bark from the cage next to the Boxers. 

He looks over to the cage and sees the most beautiful dog he’s ever seen. Louis finds himself staring in the blue eyes of a three year old weimaraner. The shelter has named it Blue, which Louis thinks is fitting. The dog is in the back of its cage, Louis can tell Blue is sizing him up, seeing if he’s trustworthy. The dog barks again, it’s not a loud bark, Louis thinks maybe it’s frightened to be as loud as it can be. Louis squats down and places his hand against the cage. Blue starts sniffing and moving towards Louis slowly. Eventually Blue puts her entire nose against Louis’ palm and sniffs long and hard, it tickles Louis and he laughs. Blue startles at the sound, but keeps her nose on Louis’ hand. Blue then looks at Louis in the face, and rolls onto her back presenting her tummy to Louis. Louis tries to scratch her through the cage, only slightly successful. 

When the young boy working in the shelter comes to check on him he notices Louis and Blue playing through the cage door. Louis looks up and says this is the one. 

So it’s not Louis’ fault when his morning walk turned into him adopting a dog for him and Harry. He buys a leash from the pound and walks the two of them to the pet store to get food and some toys. Blue is the cutest thing, she thinks she’s a lapdog and wants to be held, thankfully she’s not too heavy due to her being slightly malnourished. Louis carries her throughout the store and makes her walk to Harry’s apartment. 

When he gets to Harry’s place he walks them inside, Harry’s asleep in the chair by the window, it’s his favorite place in the apartment. Louis holds Blue and puts the dog food in the kitchen. Harry still hasn’t woken up which is perfect for Louis, he lets Blue roam the apartment, familiarizing herself with her new home. Louis turns for one moment and when he turns back around Blue is licking Harry’s toes. He watches as Harry slowly comes to and looks down at his feet. 

“Well hello pretty thing, who are you?” Harry says, his voice is always deeper when he wakes up and Louis forgets this, because Blue jumps and scurries back to Louis. Harry’s eyes follow, he has a slight frown on his face. 

“Hey, uh. So this is Blue! She’s for us, I mean she’s under my name but she’s for us both. She’s frightened by men and takes some time to get used to people but she’s going to love you, I just know it.” He picks her up, and goes to sit on the ground next to Harry so she’s close to them both. 

“Blue, love, this is your dad. He’s good I promise.” He pets behind her ears and runs a hand down her back, he grabs one of Harry’s hands and puts it near her nose. She goes through the same ritual she did with Louis, she sniffs Harry’s hand longer than she had with Louis, but eventually licks between his fingers. He giggles and Louis swears the dog smiles. 

“She’s beautiful Lou.” Harry is smiling and rubbing her belly where she’s rolled over on top of Louis’ lap. 

“Just the prettiest baby in the world, huh. She’s chipped and has all her shots, spayed too! She’s three and loves to be held even though shes a big lump.” Louis smiles at Harry. 

“Lou darling, not that I don’t love her, but are you sure about this? Who will she stay with?” 

“Petal, don’t worry about it. She will stay wherever we are. If we are staying at your place she will be at your place, if we are staying at mine so will she. Eventually we’ll only have one place so it will really be okay.” Louis smiles up at Harry and Harry kisses him on the forehead, which is Louis’ favorite thing in the world. 

They spend the rest of the day playing with Blue in the small park on the corner of Harry’s street. Louis thinks this is what he was destined to do, be a family with Harry, and now Blue. 

**

Harry’s transition back to work goes well, Niall only uses one confetti cannon. Zayn gives him a hug and tells him to never get shot again because he can’t handle Louis crying ever again. Nick and Jesy both fuss over them being a couple and it’s only a little annoying. Nick only talks about them having children twice, which Louis counts as a win. 

Liam makes the entire squad sit in the squad room and have a family therapy session. He explains that since Harry got shot, the whole squad needs to let go of the image of him bloodied on the ground. So they basically have an entire morning of sitting in a circle and professing how much they actually all love each other. Harry hasn’t stopped smiling all day and Louis thinks this family he has is one that he’s proud of. They show the squad pictures of Blue and everyone coos over her blue eyes. Harry explains how they are trying to get her to sleep on her bed that’s on the floor, but every morning they wake up with her under the covers with them. 

And that opens a whole new can of worms for them, everyone is under the impression that they live together and Louis just hasn’t had the nerve to correct them. He thinks they’ve been living as a unit for quite some time now, pretty much since they got together. Sleepovers became habit, and Louis wasn’t going to protest falling asleep wrapped around Harry. They’ve both discussed the possibility of eventually moving in together, but the more Louis thinks about it the less reasons he has to have a separate place. 

And so Louis gets stuck in the should we or shouldn’t we limbo. Should they move in together? It’s only been two months of dating, that might be too soon? But at the same time, they love each other and have loved each other for years, so technically they’re moving slow, right? 

**

After a relatively slow day at work they go home to Louis’ apartment, they stop at Harry’s to pick Blue up though. They’ve been using a week at Harry’s, a week at Louis’ type schedule. At first it was easier to just see where they wound up at night, but with Blue, they found it better to just stick to a schedule. Plus the plants are their babies at this point, Louis has learned to keep them alive for the past four years he isn’t going to let them die now that he’s getting laid on the regular by the love of his life. 

On the way home they swing their hands between them, Blue’s leash in Louis’ left hand, but he’s got his whole world in his right hand. They pick up takeout on the way and when they get to Louis’ apartment he realizes it no longer feels like home. Harry sets the table, well the counter, and Blue goes to snooze on the couch. Louis waters his plants on the windowsill and the other plants around the apartment before joining Harry. 

“Hey, H, can we talk about something?” Louis looks up to find Harry with a noodle hanging out his mouth and a crease between his eyebrows. “It’s nothing bad! I just want to ask you something?”

“I swear to god if you propose to me with chow mein in my mouth I will be _so_ mad Lou.” Harry jokes through a mouth full of noodles. 

“No nothing like that right now. I was just wondering like, we’re together more often than not right?” Harry nods his head so Louis continues, “And like half my stuff is at your place? Like my makeup has commingled with yours, and my clothes are all over your place and like we’re there more often than not. I mean your place is lovely I love it! Blue loves it too!” 

“Babe, you haven’t actually asked me anything. Are you, do you want to spend more time apart is this what this is about?” Harry is frowning down at his plate of orange chicken and chow mein. 

“Oh god, no! The opposite actually? I was wondering if we should maybe like, move in together? I mean it seems right?” Louis stutters out. 

“Baby yes! Can we please? All our plants will look so nice together! And like the whole starting a life together thing too!” Harry looks genuinely excited about it so Louis thinks mission accomplished. 

They finish their meals and discuss the pros and cons of each apartment, as if Harry has to convince Louis to move to his. But Louis knows lists make Harry feel safe about major life decisions, he’s surprised Harry hasn’t made a binder for their relationship already. They eventually decide on Harry’s apartment, mainly because of the seat by the window, that was one thing Louis was not willing to compromise on. His favorite moment of every day is seeing Harry have his morning coffee in that chair and the way the soft sunlight shines on his cheekbones. 

So the plans are set in motion to move in, Louis asks Harry if he’s positive about this, asks if they’re moving too fast. Harry just kisses him and says he’s never been more sure about anything in his life and that he wants to take the next step towards the rest of their lives. That alone makes Louis drag Harry to his bed, shutting the door behind him. Neither of them want Blue to jump up on the bed again, she’s very curious and just wants to be near Louis. He gets it but sometimes he just wants to have sex with his boyfriend without his dog taking up the whole bed… sometimes being all the time. 

Blue whines at the door, and Harry pushes Louis off him to let her in the room.

“Only one round tonight baby honey, let her in we’ve got work in the morning. And you get to ask the squad to help us move into my place since you asked to move in with me, that’s how that works.” Harry says from the bed. 

When Louis opens the door Blue jumps on her hind legs to get him to pick her up, shes rounded out to a healthy weight but Louis can’t bear to not hold her. They get in bed and cuddle next to Harry. Louis falls asleep with Harry behind him and Blue in front of him and he’s the happiest he’s ever been. 

**

The move goes well, their plants survive without wilting and Louis’ apartment sells the moment it gets put on the market. They’re having a perfect afternoon together with Blue playing catch when the phone rings with a facetime call from his mother. He gets up to go to their room after she tells Harry hello. 

“So the move went alright, Lou? I’m sorry we couldn’t make it down, Doris wound up with a cold and you know when she gets sick Ernie pretends to be sick too so she’s not left alone.” His mom explains with a fond look on her face. 

“Yeah it went well! The guys came and helped, even Captain! Most of my stuff was already here and Blue likes it here better anyway.” Louis explains. 

They stay on the phone for an hour, after he tells both sets of twins hello. He tells them that they all have to come to town for lunch one day soon and they make plans for them to come next week. After he hangs up he goes back to the living room to find Harry and Blue cuddled on the couch, both asleep. Louis snaps a picture and sets it as his phone background. He sends it to the squad group chat and captions it “Puppy Pile!” 

**  
The day before Jay and the rest of Louis’ family come to visit is spent cleaning and cooking. Louis follows a video from Instagram for a cinnamon swirl apple pie, and the pie is only a little lopsided, Louis is proud. Harry makes them a pasta bake and an eggplant appetizer. He also sets aside a serving of the pasta before the meat was added for Phoebe who is newly vegetarian. Louis swears Harry is the most thoughtful person on the entire planet. 

They also go to the plant nursery, the man behind the desk whose name tag reads Ed, waves hello to Harry and tells him to go wander through by the amaryllis bulbs. Louis follows behind Harry, while he does enjoy the small bit of plants he has he doesn’t know nearly as much as Harry does. He still thinks his air plant is the coolest thing, which Harry tells him he’s wrong the coolest plant is clearly the lithop because they look like rocks to avoid being eaten. 

Harry leads them to where the multitude of succulents are, he explains that his mom is probably more attentive to plants than Harry is but succulents are Harry’s favorite because of the variety. He picks out a snake plant for Jay and then leads them to where the pots are. He finds a larger one with an intricate lace design, and six smaller ones that compliment the larger one. 

“I think I’m going to take clippings from my favorites at home and some from yours and give them to the girls and Ernest. That way they have a little bit of both of us? I might do the same for your mom’s as well, you know how big my jade is getting.” Harry trails off when he finds a pot that looks like a teacup, Louis already knows he’s going to buy it.

“That sounds like a good idea babe, I think that will be lovely.” Louis leans up and kisses Harry on the nose. He watches Harry’s face scrunch up like he’s trying to contain his fondness. 

When they get home they get to work on planting the clippings for the girls and Ernie and Harry gardens with such delicate care, Louis stops to watch him sometimes. He gets caught too, Harry throws a bit of dirt at Louis and tells him to get to work. When they finish they clean up and have cereal for dinner, Harry doesn’t want to spoil his appetite for lunch tomorrow. Louis knows it’s because he’s nervous about how tomorrow will go. 

They curl up in bed and talk about how excited they are for tomorrow. Louis falls asleep with his nose pressed into Harry’s neck and Blue on his legs. 

 

The next morning Louis throws the pie in the oven while Harry gets in the shower. He sets the timer and then goes to join Harry in the shower, which is one of the best things about living with Harry; showertime rituals are a beautiful thing and Louis’ hair and skin have never been better. He catches up to Harry during his exfoliating stage and Harry smiles as he gets more scrub and starts scrubbing Louis down. They agreed early on shower sex is a no for them, Harry fell halfway out the shower the first and last time they tried. He had to come up with a lie for why he was limping at work the next day, but no one believed that he tripped over Blue’s toys. But their time in the shower is always a religious experience to Louis, he gets to see Harry all soft and shiny and with an avocado face mask on, Louis can’t believe this is the life he’s been gifted but he’s incredibly happy that he is the person Harry shares himself with. 

When they finish in the shower they have about two hours before Louis’ family arrives so they spend the rest of their time alone doing each other’s makeup. Another one of Louis’ favorite things about their living arrangements, Harry always does his shimmer better than Louis, something about the blending. Louis adds a soft pink blush to Harry’s cheeks and eyelids, while Harry applies Louis’ shimmer. They dress comfortably knowing the rest of the group will be dressed to have a relaxing day too. Harry sets the rest of the food in the oven, just needed to warm it up since it was prepared the day before.

Blue starts jumping and walking in circles so Louis knows they’re close, he swears she has a sixth sense for when people are almost there. A few minutes later they hear the doorbell and multiple people knocking on the door. Louis goes to open the door, Harry trailing behind him. When he opens the door he takes in the sight before him, his mom holding Doris and Ernest with his fist still raised from knocking. Lottie and Fizzy are fighting about who gets to hug Harry first and Daisy and Phoebe just look excited to be there. Louis lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and goes to hug and kiss everyone as they walk through their door. 

If Harry thinks Louis is loud, he’s got another thing coming for him. His family is a rambunctious crew and the only time they’re ever quiet is when they’re sleeping, and even then at least two Tomlinsons sleep talk. His mom lets the younger twins down and they take off running. Louis pays them no attention and hugs his mom tight, she kisses him on the cheek when they separate. 

“Mom, I know you have met before but, this is Harry.” He says to his mom, “My love, this is my mom.” 

Harry moves to hold his hand out and Jay slaps it away and pulls Harry into a tight hug as well. She whispers something in his ear that Louis cannot hear and they laugh to themselves. 

“Alright break it up, we have to go make sure the group isn’t destroying our home.” Louis puts his hands on his hips and gestures for his mom to hang her jacket up on the rack. 

He goes to the living room where his sisters are. Lottie is fussing with Fizzy’s hair and Daisy is showing Phoebe something on her phone, the youngest ones are in his and Harry’s room probably jumping on the bed. 

“Hey Lou, it’s really nice in here, I can’t believe Harry let you move in here! It’s too nice for a mess like you!” Fizzy jokes. Louis scowls at her. 

“Ha. Ha. You’re so funny Fizz, I’ll have you know that I cooked for you fools and cleaned the living room. I’m an excellent house-mate. So take that!” Louis pokes his tongue out at her and goes to tickle Daisy. He hears Doris laughing so loud she’s almost screaming and when he looks up his breath gets caught in his throat and his jaw drops. 

Harry’s standing in the doorway holding Doris upside down and pretending to drop her and she’s enjoying the shit out of it. And if the smile on Harry’s face is anything to go by he’s having the time of his life with a toddler in his arms. This is a visual Louis did not need on this fine afternoon. He knows Harry wants kids, they’ve spoken about it briefly, but to see Harry interact with his sister is making his heart melt. He’s looking into his future. He doesn’t realize how long he’s staring until Lottie leans over and closes his mouth for him. She smirks at him but he can’t help but sigh. 

The entire afternoon goes more or less the same, Louis getting caught staring at his boyfriend and his boyfriend impressing his entire family. Even Ernest is obsessed with Harry because they both have long hair. His mom pulls him aside after they finish eating. 

“Lou everything is so lovely here, I’m so proud of you, my boy.” She’s got tears in her eyes and Louis isn’t far behind. 

“I love him so much I can’t believe I get to have this. I don’t deserve him or how much he loves me.” Jay makes a sound of protest but Louis cuts her off, “Do you know I woke up the other morning and he was whispering to me how much he loves me? He didn’t even know I was awake! He was just saying how happy he is to have me in his arms. I cried!”

“Oh my sweet boy, you deserve all the love in the world and I’m overjoyed that Harry can give that to you. You deserve him just as much as he deserves you, my dear. I know how much you make him shine.” They cry on each other for a minute before Harry comes to find Louis.

“Oh there you are, baby! Wait, is everything okay my love?” Harry looks so concerned, Louis just pulls him into a kiss. 

“Everything is absolutely perfect. Why don’t you go grab those gifts for mom and the girls and Ernie of course?” Louis gives him a watery smile and Harry knows to let it go, they’ll talk about it later. 

Jay is absolutely thrilled with her new plants as are the girls, Ernest doesn’t quite understand it but he’s excited to not kill a plant for once. Louis heads to the kitchen to serve the pie for his family when he feels an arm wrap around his waist and a kiss on his temple. 

“I love you.”

“I love you, so much.” 

 

When his family leaves Louis tells Harry what the moment with his mom was about. They discuss how they are exactly what the other deserves and how their love is stronger than any doubts they have. Harry wipes his tears away and then kisses Louis on the forehead, eyelids and nose.

**

It’s a hot day in July and Louis is in the car. He had asked Liam’s permission to go AWOL today, let him in on his plans and then left work, leaving Harry convinced he was going to meet with the new Commissioner about his time undercover. When in reality he’s in his car driving to Chelsea to meet with Anne and Gemma. While stuck in traffic he goes over how he’s going to ask them, he makes a fake cover story for how he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life together. Which is overkill but he can’t let it slip how it actually popped into his head that he needed to ask Harry to marry him immediately because every moment he spends as just Harry’s boyfriend and not as his fiance is a moment wasted. 

It happened when they were in bed, the night was casual but there was some built up tension. Harry had worn a sheer shirt to dinner that night and since it was date night Louis didn’t have to keep his hands to himself, in fact he didn’t and he palmed Harry under the table. It wasn’t his proudest moment, but the noises Harry was trying to muffle were a reward for Louis’ actions. They grabbed the check and took the subway home and Harry could barely keep his hands to himself until Louis whispered in Harry’s ear in the middle of a crowded subway car. 

“Be good for me? I have a surprise for you when we get home.” Harry whimpered and the elderly woman knitting a scarf looked up with a scandalized face. 

They hurried home and into the bedroom and Louis grabbed his gift for Harry, it was sloppily wrapped but he knew Harry wouldn’t mind, he was eager for his surprise. Louis’ surprise wasn’t much of a surprise. Harry had been making offhand comments about how pretty Blue’s collar was and he would then touch his own neck as if he had one too. So Louis did what any other supportive boyfriend would do, he bought his boyfriend a collar. 

When he showed Harry the collar he got so worked up they couldn’t continue, Louis made sure he was back in the right headspace before even placing the collar around his neck. 

“Kitten, are you back with me?” Louis asked Harry, he was petting the hair out of his face and rubbing circles into his shoulder. 

And then _it_ happened. 

“Yes, thank you Daddy.” Harry whispered out to Louis. 

Louis’ whole world ended and began with those four words, he had done his research of course and they never spoke about it but he could always tell Harry was holding back during sex, who knew all he needed was a collar. So Louis was _Daddy_ now, a role he was eager to play. Harry was and always will be Louis’ baby so it makes sense to him how he could be this for Harry. That night was a night for the history books, Louis thinks he’s never been that hard in his entire life. 

But in that moment the only thought running through his mind was _‘he called me Daddy I have to marry him.’_

So that brings Louis back to his fake story of ‘Harry was doing a crossword in bed and found a typo and I knew I had to marry him.’ He thinks Gemma and Anne will fall for it, he just hopes they give him his blessing. They gave it back in March when Harry was in the hospital, but he wants to reassure himself that he’s doing the right thing. That it isn’t too soon and that it’ll all go okay, that he isn’t making a mistake. He thinks about how they’ve grown as individuals and as a couple. Shit, three years ago Louis wasn’t even drinking water and had only read fifteen books. Through their prank war he’s read at least eight more books and now drinks water every day. They’ve also grown as a couple in ways Louis can’t even describe, it’s like no matter what happens in his life he wants Harry right there next to him when he never wanted to depend on someone. He runs out of time to think about it because he pulls up to Anne’s house, Gemma is already there, her pink VW beetle is in the drive next to Anne’s Honda. 

He gets out the car and locks it before remembering the flowers that were on the passenger seat. After he grabs the slightly wilted flowers, they weren’t from their garden, they were store bought. He should have grabbed a plant from the garden instead, Anne probably would have liked that more. His internal dilemma is cut short by Gemma pulling the door open before he had the chance to knock. 

“Louis you’ve been standing at our door for like three minutes what are you doing? Come in! Are those for mom? She’ll love them.” Gemma hugs Louis and grabs the flowers in the same move, not even giving him a chance to say hello. She leads him through the house, he’s never been here before but he notices how nice it’s been kept throughout the years. He looks at the photos on the wall of the staircase. He never knew Harry was blonde when he was little, maybe he shouldn’t ask him to marry him until he knows everything.

“Louis? Is that you dear? How are you today?” Anne comes from the kitchen and gives Louis such a big mom hug that he could be fooled into thinking his own mother is hugging him. 

“Yeah hi, Anne! You look beautiful today.” Louis watches as Anne tuts and smacks him on the arm.

“You charmer, you want some coffee? I just put on a fresh pot since you said you were coming by to talk to us.”

 

“Yeah that would be lovely actually,” he trails off and follows Anne back into the kitchen, Gemma is sitting on the countertop eating some sort of apple pastry. She nods her head in Louis’ direction. He’s sweating, he can feel it gathering at his hairline. 

“Dear, you look a bit unwell, is everything okay? Is Harry okay? Are you going undercover again?” Anne looks more and more worried as she speaks.

“No, nothing like that. Actually I came here to talk to you about something.” They both look at him with curious faces, “I wanted to talk to you about me and Harry’s relationship?”

“Has he done something? Have you done something? Hon, whose body do we have to hide?” Gemma tries to joke, Louis just grimaces. 

“NO, no bodies! I wanted to get your blessing!” Louis blurts out. Gemma mouth drops open and Anne has a soft smile on her face. 

“Oh Louis” Gemma whispers, her face still shows how shocked she is.

“The shooting really put things into perspective, you know? Like we haven’t been together long, only six months and I know that’s abnormal? To get engaged this soon, shit I don’t even know if he would say yes! But when I thought he was dying in my arms I was so mad that we wouldn’t get the future we talked about. I want to give him that future, the wedding and babies and growing old and gray. I want that so badly, but if you two don’t think it’s right I might reconsider. But I will marry him, even if you say no, but I know he would want you both to agree.” Louis finishes his speech he prepared, he looks up from his cup of coffee to see Anne with tears in her eyes and Gemma with a smirk on her face. 

“Oh Louis, of course you should marry Harry, you two complement each other so nicely. You two are the type of couple people strive to be a part of. Of course you have my blessing you silly boy.” Anne leans over the table to hold one of Louis’ shaking hands. 

“I told him when he woke up in the hospital that if he didn’t marry you I would disown him, so welcome to the family bro!”

“You guys, he has to say yes first.”

“Oh! Do you need help ring shopping? You know how particular he is about his rings! And what about proposal ideas?” Anne starts with a gasp.

“Yeah have you thought about how you’re going to do it? Harry hates surprises you know, it’ll be hard to really get him you know how easily he gets suspicious.” Gemma adds.

“I have a concept for a ring? Definitely gold, with some type of gemstone? I don’t want to use a diamond, he’s more precious if you will?” Louis chuckles at his own pun, Gemma, however, does not and she gives him a flat look before rolling her eyes. 

“Louis it will be beautiful no matter what you decide to get him. And the proposal idea?”

“I was thinking of maybe using Blue? I’m just not quite sure yet. I have some time though, this won’t happen immediately I don’t want to rush into buying a ring before I know it’s perfect, and I want to plan it so that he’s not super suspicious.” Louis explains. 

They talk for a couple of hours about Louis and his feelings and he’s exhausted by the time he makes it to the car. He checks his phone to see two texts from Harry, both plant based puns. And a new text from Gemma.

‘Don’t fuck it up, love you brother.’

He sends back and eyeroll emoji and a diamond emoji. 

**

The next weekend Louis tells Harry he has family bonding with Lottie and Fizzy, when he is really going ring shopping with Zayn. He told Lottie to cover for him, that he had some police business that Harry couldn’t know about it, she didn’t buy it either but she agreed. He picked Zayn up outside the precinct because Zayn doesn’t want Louis to know where he lives, they’re best friends and Louis can’t know where the man lives but whatever. 

“Sup man, what did you need me on our off day for?” Zayn mumbles, he’s got a cigarette in his mouth despite Louis’ ‘no cigs in the car’ rule. Louis plucks it from between his lips and puts it in the empty water bottle in the cupholder. 

“I need you to come with me on an errand, and I can’t tell anyone else about it because no one else can keep a secret. I’ll tell you about it once we get there.” 

“I’m only packing my bowie knife and my nunchucks, so if it’s going to be a messy job you should have told me before we left.” Zayn says. 

“What the fuck do you think I get up to on the weekends? You know what nevermind, just, we’re almost there so just forget your torture for a second.” Louis drives and a few moments later they’re pulled up in front of the antique shop. 

They walk through the antique shop in silence, Zayn looks around and touches everything he can before he finds a sword on display. Louis doesn’t even want to know. He walks up to the jewelry case and starts looking, he feels Zayn stand next to him and a gasp. 

“Louis? Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” 

“Yup, talked to Anne and Gemma last weekend, you’re the only other person that knows, besides my mom of course.” 

“Not that I don’t support this but you’ve been dating for, what, like six almost seven months? What sparked this sudden need to get married?” Zayn looked at Louis conderned. 

“Look, I won’t lie. He called me Daddy like last month so I have to marry him. You of all people know how hard it is to find the perfect person who also matches all your kinks.” Louis explains with a blush high on his cheeks. 

“Louis that’s fantastic, now give me the real reason.” Zayn always calls Louis on his shit.

“The shooting really shook me up you know? I held him in my arms while we both thought he was dying. I don’t want to do that again without knowing that he is truly mine. I want a future with him, marriage! Kids! All of it! I want to be old and saggy and he’s old and saggy with me and we have to help each other get to the bathroom. I want everything with him and why wait?” Louis speaks softly.

Zayn’s face changes then, no more concern and only pride. 

“I’m proud of you man, I never thought you could be serious about someone. Let’s find your man a ring!” He claps Louis on the back a little too hard. 

The shop assistant comes to them and show them the wedding specific rings. She shows them wedding bands that are beautiful but just not what he’s looking for. He asks if there are any rings with gemstones in them and she shows them three bands. They’re all pretty standard and not on Harry’s level of beauty so Louis turns them down. 

“Lou are you even looking for a band?” Zayn asks him.

“Actually I picture something almost soft? Delicate maybe? Bands always seemed too harsh for Harry. I mean he wears slippers that have bunny ears on them, he’s not a harsh person,” he explains to the woman named Eliza, she nods and asks them to excuse her for a moment. 

“Look Louis, there’s more than one antique shop in New York, if you don’t find it here it’s okay we can try a few more stores today.” Zayn offers. Louis agrees and they wait in silence for the woman to come back. 

She comes back with a small wooden box that has three drawers to it, it’s an antique, he can tell based off the word work. She opens the box by undoing latches that Louis didn’t even notice were there. She opens the top drawer, which is full of grandiose rings, which Harry would love however none of them were The One. Then Eliza opened the second drawer and Louis held his breath. He had to get a ring from this shop, Harry had literally sleep talked about this shop. 

There in the second drawer are about four or five rings, each one stunning. There are three bands as well, Louis would choose his band based off whichever ring he picked for Harry he had already decided. There’s a band that looked like a tree limb intertwined with some leaves as well as a matching ring with a sapphire in the middle. There’s also a beautiful ring that Louis picks up, it’s gold and looks like a rose but with a pink stone in the center of the leaves. He hands that one to Zayn for his opinion, but can see in his eyes that he doesn’t think it’s the one either. There is a ring that is oblong and silver, it has a delicate trim and a medium sized stone in the center, it catches the light beautifully but isn’t _Harry_. He looks up at Zayn but he just nods his head towards the case with a small smile on his face. 

And there it is, nestled next to a gold band, is [The Ring](https://www.etsy.com/listing/573462083/9ct-gold-ring-engagement-ring-amethyst?ref=hp_rv). It’s absolutely gorgeous, it is a gold ring with a type of filigree on the sides, there are three amethyst stones deeper in color than he’s ever seen in a line with a slightly larger one in the middle. The ring itself is quite simple, it isn’t the most elaborate one in the case, but something about it makes Louis heart beat faster. He looks up at Zayn and then to Eliza and picks it up. Eliza looks up to see which one he’s chosen, surprise on her face. 

“I for sure thought you would have chosen the moonstone. But this one is just as beautiful. It’s from the 1920s.” She speaks up. She also grabs the band that goes with it, “In my opinion, this band compliments it best.” 

The [band](https://www.etsy.com/listing/556090853/sale-14k-gold-blossom-wedding-band?ref=hp_rv) she shows him is the same thickness as Harry’s ring which he’s happy about, he was never fond of thick rings. It has a type of art deco flower design on it that isn’t too over the top. It’s perfect. 

“Eliza, they’re perfect. Can I get these two? My boy would love this ring so much.” Louis looks up to her, she smiles and nods her head. 

He finds some antique ring boxes and picks one that opens with a creak and deems it perfect. He uses the money he’s had saved up for a life size spiderman and the money his mom gave him, she wanted to help and she wanted Louis to know that Harry deserves the best. As if Louis needed reminding. In the store Louis threatens Zayn with torture if he lets it slip about the engagement, Zayn knows Louis’ bluffing but he’s still going to keep the secret for Louis. 

They walk back to the car with lighter wallets, a pair of rings and a samurai sword. 

**  
Louis is cheating on Harry, he’s convinced. Louis has been acting funny and Harry noticed right away. They still had the same amount of sex if not more, and Louis still acted like he loved him all the same. But something was off, so naturally Harry is convinced Louis’ cheating. 

It started about a month after _The Daddy Incident_ , as Harry’s taken to calling it, which was amazing. But after that Louis started acting funny, he kept guarding his phone and having whispered phone conversations. He leaves home every Thursday before dinner around 6:45 and stays out till about 9 at night. When he comes home he says he’s not hungry but would love to watch the news and cuddle. So like really he’s just being super suspicious for no damn reason.

Harry’s tired of it, it’s been like this for about five weeks and he’s so tired. He cries in the shower when he gets to shower alone. He cries at work while he stress smokes, he just can’t stop crying and Louis is catching on to his puffy eyes. He thinks Harry just stopped using his eye cream at night. 

It’s Tuesday and Louis has been acting like a criminal for far too long, Harry is going to confront him while they eat tonight, because at least if Louis leaves Harry will still have his pizza. God, he’s going to miss Louis so much, it’s like now that he has him he never wants to let go but if he has to he will. 

When they get home from work they both change into sweats, Harry goes for his NYPD sweatshirt that his mom bought him as a present for getting hired way back when, Louis just puts on an old college t-shirt. He’s beautiful even when he’s not trying to be. They sit down in the living room and put on the Tuesday night drama that comes on. They talk about their day while they wait for the pizza, and when the doorbell rings Louis jumps up to grab the pizza and Blue barks and whines by his feet. 

They settle in and start eating. Harry is working up the nerve to talk to Louis, he thinks if he has at least one piece of pizza he can do it. Louis laughs at something on the tv and Harry turns to look at him, his time is now. When he looks at Louis he has a look on his face that Harry can’t quite figure out. Harry opens his mouth and lets loose. 

“Are you cheating on me?” Louis chokes on the bite he had just taken, Harry jumps to pat him on the back and make sure he’s breathing. 

“Harry _what the fuck?_ No, I’m not cheating on you, you idiot!” Louis looks more hurt than anything, and Harry is just now realizing how this is coming out of nowhere so he tries to explain himself. 

“You’ve been sneaking around, you hide your phone from me and since when do you not trust me? Or should I be the one not trusting you! You leave every Thursday! For over an hour! Who are you sneaking off to, huh Louis?”

“Your sister!” What?

“What? I thought you were gay?” 

“No, shut up just fucking- I had it all planned out! I was getting help from Gemma, she’s been teaching me how to make your favorite meal?” Louis’ stood up from the couch now. He shakes his head and looks at Harry before he continues, “I was going to take you on a picnic literally tomorrow, but now we have this accident! A snacksident if you will! And you’ve spoiled my plans! I wasn’t even finished my speech yet. And now we both look ridiculous, you have pizza sauce on your face and your bun is lopsided and yet you’re still the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen and I still want to marry you!” He’s raising his voice and has tears in his eyes. Harry is so confused he doesn’t understand. 

“Louis what are you talking about? You’re not sleeping with my sister are you?” Harry asks, nervous for the answer. He watches as Louis turns around and walks away. Harry’s stunned; Louis has never walked away from an argument before, they made it a rule to not turn their backs to each other. Harry’s eyes start getting blurry and he hadn’t even noticed he was crying. 

Louis comes back with a box in his hand. He stands in front of Harry, and gets down on one knee. And oh. 

“Harry, my love. I’m not sleeping with your sister, I’m not sleeping with anyone else but you, hopefully for the rest of our ridiculous lives. I love your face, and your butt and I should have written this down. You help me grow and you push me to be the best version of myself. I didn’t even know I was capable of loving someone as much as I love you. Harry, my darling, there is no version of me that doesn’t love you and I’m so thankful you choose to love me. So Harry, will you choose me one more time and say yes? Harry will you marry me?” Harry hasn’t dared to look down at the ring box, he can’t take his eyes away from Louis’ face. He’s crying but he’s smiling and Harry can’t breathe. 

**  
“ _Harry will you marry me?_ ” Louis looks at Harry’s face, he’s crying and his eyes are puffy. He’s gorgeous. 

“What the fuck, yes I’ll marry you!” Harry breathes out in a rush, he jumps into Louis’ arms and wraps his legs around him. “I’m so confused I don’t know what’s going on right now.” 

“ _I’m So Confused I Don’t Know What’s Going On Right Now_ , title of your sex tape.” 

“Oh my god I’m shaking, I can barely breathe….title of my sex tape I know. How did you plan this?” Harry laughs and shakes his head. 

“Oh, I’ve been shitting bricks for over a month trying to plan this perfectly to have you ruin it thinking I’m sleeping with someone else! And your sister! Jesus H.” Louis laughs into Harry’s neck. 

“You’ve had this planned for that long? How did you keep it a surprise?”

“Apparently your mind goes to me cheating before me proposing which we will be discussing this insecurity later, baby I would never. But your mom and Gemma helped a lot with the planning and Zayn is the only other one that knows because I knew he could keep a secret.” 

“That’s why he’s been making comments about my rings!” Harry shouts in Louis’ ear.

“Bastard, yes.” Louis keeps his hold on Harry and the ring he has yet to look at and carries them to the bedroom. “I had my mom and yours on standby for tomorrow because they wanted to be first to know if you said yes. But we can just send them a picture later.” Louis says once he dumps Harry on the bed, Harry lets out a giggle.

“Lou wait! Babe show me the ring!” 

Louis opens the box and holds his breath, he hopes he chose the right ring. He watches as Harry lifts one rose painted nail to touch the ring as if it will break. 

“It’s gorgeous.” Harry whispers to him, he looks up at Louis and has tears in his eyes. Louis leans over and kisses his tears away. He takes the ring from the box and pushes it onto Harry’s finger, the only empty one on that hand. 

“There it fits perfect, I got a ring that goes with it I’ll show you later.” Louis kisses him then, on the forehead and then on the lips. 

“No show me now! I want to see what you’re going to wear too.” Harry smiles and bounces in place on the bed. Louis gets up from the bed and walks over to the bathroom, he digs around in his drawer of products, he kept both rings in an old container of concealer, thankful him and Harry have different undertones for once in his life. When he walks back into their bedroom Harry is sitting in the same place he was when Louis left but he’s looking at his ring and toying with how it fits on his finger. 

“This one is mine.” Louis shows Harry his thin gold band, it has a small design on it but it’s nothing too fancy. It goes with Harry’s ring, he likes to match with his future husband. 

“Oh, Lou they match! That’s so lovely.” Harry looks up to Louis and makes grabby hands for him to join on the bed. Louis lets Harry pull him down on top of himself, afterall it is one of his favorite places to be. 

They spend the rest of the night tangled in the sheets, Blue had whined at the locked door but Louis figured he would just give her a treat tomorrow because he’s not letting himself or Harry leave the bed until well into tomorrow. They text their moms at some point in the night, Louis also calls Liam and asks for a half day for the two of them. Liam just says to get the paperwork on the update in their relationship handed in by the end of the day. 

**

They’ve been engaged for three weeks when the discussion of People Of Honor comes up. 

“You have to ask Nick to be your best man. You know he will throw up if you choose Zayn.” Harry tells him. They’re at a restaurant for their lunch break. Louis hates this place but Harry loves their soup. 

“Well obviously I’m going to ask Nick to be my best man, but I kinda wanted Lottie to be my best woman.” 

“I don’t think that’s an issue, Gemma is going to be my best woman, so why can’t you have two? We can share Niall, Liam, Jesy and Zayn, divide them up evenly and according to height! Oh but can I have Fizzy on my side? We’ve really gotten close after they came by a while back, turns out we read the same type of books and now she’s like the second sister that I always wanted,” Harry rambles on. 

“Okay good point, I call Liam though, I want him to be proud of me on my side of the altar.” 

“Okay good, that’s settled, we should split the twins equally and I think the smaller twins would be so cute as the flower children!” Harry’s so right, Louis is surprised he didn’t think of that plan sooner. 

“Perfect, babe. You’re a genius.” He leans over the table to kiss Harry quickly. When they get back to the office, Nick and Niall are fighting over something Louis doesn’t even want to know about. 

Louis thinks about how nicely their plans have been going. When they told everyone at the office Niall shouted through the precinct. 

“I swear to god Tomlinson if you proposed with a paperclip ring I’ll skin you!” Zayn nods to this, silently agreeing with Niall. 

“No he proposed with a real ring! With stones in!” Harry boasts and shoves his hand into their faces. Nick cries when he sees the ring, and claps Louis on the back. 

“You know, I always knew you two would get together, but Tomlinson, I didn’t think you had it in you to get a ring like that!” Jesy is ever the older sister Louis never had. 

“Aw thanks guys, but yes I proposed and yes I will love Harry until I die, thank you,” Louis shouts over the others. Harry just gives him a look that says ‘we will discuss this later.’ 

Since that day they’ve been discussing everything from potential venues and menus, to flowers and tuxedos. They haven’t fought mainly because Louis wants whatever Harry wants, the only thing Louis was adamant about was having a venue where Blue can be part of the ceremony and reception. Harry agreed. 

They have been waiting for a call back from this one venue, it’s a renovated barn but it still has the feel of a country barn, but it’s very rustic and Harry had fallen in love with it because there was a goat named Billy wandering in the field next to the building. Louis just appreciated the breeze that could be felt where the altar would be. Harry had wanted to do tuxedo shopping separately and had made plans with Gemma to go in two weeks. Louis has yet to figure out how to ask Nick to be his Best Man, he wants it to be special for Nick. And what better way to make it special than by pranking him? 

When they get back to the precinct after lunch, Louis finds Nick typing at his desk. 

“Nick, can we talk in the briefing room for a second? There’s a question I want to ask you.” Louis asks him, Nick looks up from his computer and nods his head. Louis walks to the briefing room listening to Nick talk to Jesy and Zayn. 

“It’s _happening!_ Louis is gonna pop the question, he’s going to ask me to be his BM!”

Zayn and Jesy both make disgusted noises.

“Nope.”

“Nuh uh.”

“It’s a common abbreviation!”

“No one but you has ever used it.” Zayn says.

“I am so relieved, I thought maybe he would ask Lottie or even worse, Jesy!”

“C’mon Nick, seriously?” Jesy tuts. 

Louis calls for Nick from the briefing room. 

“ _Oh my god it’s happening!_ ” Nick whisper shouts. Zayn rolls his eyes and goes back to talking to Jesy. 

When Nick comes into the briefing room Louis notices how excited he is. 

“Okay, so I know this is a lot to ask..” But Nick interrupts.

“No it’s not! I wanna do it!” 

“You wanna cover my shift this weekend so I can go to the White Plains Mall and meet Darryl Strawberry at the opening of a cell phone store?” Louis watches as Nick’s face goes from excitement to disappointment in a matter of seconds.

“Yes. That’s exactly what I was hoping you would ask.” Nick says with zero excitement in his voice. Louis is an evil genius. 

“Thanks! You sure it’s okay, buddy?”

“Mhmm mhmm! Very happy about it, it’ll be fun it’ll be fun.” Nick points to his blank face, “Look at my smile, I have to go now.” He turns to leave the briefing room, and when he opens the door Hall and Oates is blaring through Niall’s speakers. He sets off a confetti blast, Jesy is holding a sparkler and Zayn and Harry are holding signs that say ‘Best Man.’

“Oh my god! Louis!”

“What do you say, bud? Will you be my BM?”

“Yes! Yes! A million times yes!” Nick turns from Louis to the crowd, “In your face, Jesy!”

“What? I’m holding a sparkler for you, I helped organize a lot of this!”

“Well you can stick that sparkler up your butt! I’m the best man!” Nick throws his arms up and cheers. 

“BM! BM!” Azoff and Winston are chanting in the background.

Louis hugs Nick, Liam tells them congratulations and to get back to work. 

**

They get the venue they want, of course Harry could charm the pants off anyone and the venue manager is not immune to it. They start talking about decorations, Louis and Harry decide they both want it to look like a wedding out of pinterest, Lottie has helped them tons with decorations doing some diy table settings and they’re going to be doing the invitations tomorrow. Louis had gone with Nick for his tux fitting, going with a classic black suit but picked out some gray suede shoes. He thought they were stylish and Nick agreed with everything Louis tried on, which wasn’t very helpful but what Nick lacked in judgement he made up for enthusiasm. 

Harry had let it slip that he found The Suit for the wedding the other night while they were talking in bed. 

“So I have an idea for your suit,” Harry spoke from beside Louis. He turned to look at him urging him to continue. 

“Well I already found mine, I think you’ll like it.”

“Petal, I’ve told you as long as you are comfortable and happy with what you’re wearing I couldn’t care less.”

“I know and I love you, but I want you to use a piece of my suit for your pocket square? Like, the pattern.” 

“Of course, I think that would be perfect. Do you have your something borrowed and something blue?” 

“I think so? The old will be my ring and the new will be my suit. I think for borrowed I’m going to ask to borrow something of my moms. Can we use Blue as our something blue you think?” They both decided they wanted to partake in the old school tradition. 

“I think so? We can both use Blue. I’ve got no idea to use for the rest of mine. Oh! My borrowed can be the piece of your suit!” Harry high fives Louis, and tells him to use his ring as the something old as well. 

“Who’s gonna be our something blue, Blue? You are, aren’t you my girl?” Louis coos to Blue who starts wagging her tail before flopping on her back. 

“Baby! What if Blue brings up our rings like on her collar or something?” Harry’s fingers tangle in her collar, reading her tags. One says Blue on the front and their address on the back and the other says “Marry me, fool.” Louis hasn’t removed it, and probably never will. 

“That sounds perfect, love.” Louis smiles and kisses Harry softly. 

**

The weeks leading up to the wedding are only slightly stressful for Louis. Most of the plans are perfectly executed thanks to Harry’s detail oriented personality. They grew the flowers for the table settings, they’ll have bloomed the day of the wedding, Harry timed it perfectly. Each of the squad has been given their titles, Zayn pretended to not care that he was Louis’ groomsman but he definitely smiled and gave Louis a hug when no one was looking. Harry and Louis decided the only speech at the wedding would be one from Liam, as he is their Captain and their own Cupid. All of the women in their lives are taking their roles as groomswomen very seriously and the couple could not be happier with their choices. Fizzy and Phoebe were over the moon that Harry asked for them to be with him on his side of the altar. Lottie and Daisy were pleased as well to be part of the show. Gemma punched Louis in the arm when she found out Harry wanted her as his Best Woman. 

Louis is at lunch with his mom at a small cafe near her home. They’re talking about the wedding and one of Louis’ open cases. 

“How are things going really, honey?” She asks him in between bites of her sandwich. 

“Really well actually, Harry hasn’t started stress braiding his hair which is fantastic. The flowers for the table arrangements are almost finished growing you know? And we’ve been trying to decide on what the groom’s party will walk up with? We’ve got the photographer and everything ready.”

“Now, son. There’s something I want to ask of you for your wedding day.” Jay looks serious and Louis doesn’t know where this is coming from. 

“Anything mom, what is it?”

“Your grandmother had given me this handkerchief from her wedding day for me to use, I had it wrapped around my bouquet, but I would like for you to include it in something you wear on your day. It has good karma on it and it’s really special to me.” Jay is tearing up as she speaks so Louis holds her hand over the table. 

“Of course I will, I would be honored mom.” They both have watery smiles, but Louis thinks he just found his Something Borrowed. 

**  
Louis and Lottie are shopping for his makeup for the wedding. She said she would do his makeup and he’s very excited to not have to worry about making his face up. Earlier in the week they had ordered some eyeshadows online after watching a Kathleenlights tutorial. But there were some things they could buy in store, plus Louis loved shopping with his sister. 

“So I know you’re doing that kind of monochromatic look because you want your highlight to shine, but I need some new foundation so you can either stick with me or wander about Sephora!” Lottie tells him. Louis decides to stick with her because he always feels judged when walking through Sephora, most of his makeup is drugstore or bought offline and he doesn’t feel like he’s up to the Sephora level yet, which Lottie tells him is ‘ridiculous.’ 

“Oh Lou! Look they just put Colourpop in Sephora!” Lottie shouts even though Louis is right next to her.

“Yeah I saw that on Colourpop’s instagram! I’m excited for them.” Louis gushes with Lottie about the brand and by the time they’ve moved to talking about Kim Kardashian West’s makeup line and how it probably isn’t worth the hype they’re by the skincare section. 

“Remember when you and Harry first started dating and you wanted to impress him by getting him a face mask that you can do together?” Lottie asks him. And yes Louis does remember using that mask, Harry had raved about it for weeks, but it made Louis breakout. Skin types are important to learn, and not all masks work for each face. Louis preaches about it whenever he gets the chance. 

“Well anyway, I thought maybe we could get you two like a little honeymoon spa bag? Like with a mask and a moisturizer or something?” Louis agrees and they pick out the single portions of Origins masks as well as a moisturizer from Tatcha that Harry has been eyeing for quite some time. When they make it to the register Lottie says she will pay, since she is fulfilling her Best Woman duties. 

She surprises Louis with a new highlight that is basically iridescent and Louis hugs her and says it will be his Something New. 

**  
The day of the wedding Louis has a moment where he can’t stop crying. He hasn’t seen Harry in over 24 hours, but when he got his suit and looked at his pocket square he started crying because he knows Harry is going to be so beautiful. It’s a white pattern with black flowers, it’s one of Harry’s more minimal prints but it’s so stunning Louis can’t stop crying. 

Nick has been trying to get him to stop crying and Lottie keeps telling him he won’t be ready in time if his eyes are puffy and she can’t apply his makeup. His mom and Harry’s mom have been finishing the venue and Zayn has been drinking champagne in the corner, Louis is pretty sure he’s drunk. Liam is practicing his speech and all Louis has heard is, ‘love is pain.’ 

Daisy has been keeping Doris and Ernest from destroying their outfits before the wedding even starts. Lottie goes to check on Harry to see if he’s faring any better than Louis and while she’s gone Zayn makes Louis down two glasses of champagne in quick succession. 

So Louis’ wedding day is off to a fabulous start. When Lottie comes back she has a secret smile on her face, she hands Louis a letter that is addressed to him. 

_Dear My Almost Husband, oh god he’s crying even harder now._  
My love, if you are anything like I am, and I know you are, but if you’re anything like I am you’re an absolute mess right now. I’ve been crying since I said goodbye to you yesterday. We truly do belong together, forever and I know this to be true. So far everything looks stunning and I can’t wait to meet you at the altar, babe. Today marks the first day of our forever. Please take a deep breath, and I will see you soon.  
Love, Your Almost Husband. 

“Lottie what the _fuck?_ Is he trying to kill me before we even get married!” Louis sobs out. He’s gross, he knows it, but it’s his wedding day, he’s allowed to be a mess. 

“He was a mess when I walked in and said he had something to give you. So I just handed you the letter he wrote. Gemma said he’s been crying all day but he won’t stop smiling. He looks beautiful by the way, you’re gonna vomit.” 

“Okay, let’s get me ready to marry the love of my life.” Louis says.

Lottie grabs her makeup kit from the corner and sets up her station, she could be a professional at this if she wasn’t already in nursing school. He sits still in the chair as she applies the grey shadows and the soft grey-brown shimmer on his lids. She also applies a smidge of eyeliner just to give him some definition. She puts the iridescent highlight on his cheekbones and under his eyebrows, which she puts a clear gel in to give them some shape. She does a soft foundation/contour combination just for the photos, she assures him then that Harry will also have similar face makeup on. Harry had asked her to do his makeup as well, saying he wants to support his family. She finishes his look with a setting spray and a tinted lip balm. 

They spend the rest of the time before the ceremony taking photos and trying to calm Louis’ nerves. They’re called for Louis and Harry to do some photos together before the wedding, of each man’s groom’s party and some with their moms. The only argument they had was over the photos before the wedding, Louis wanted to do a first look photoshoot where they get to have a moment to themselves but Harry had disagreed. He wanted to be traditional about some things, considering everything that is nontraditional about them. However when Louis is finishing their side of the photos Gemma comes up to him. She’s stunning in her bridesmaids dress. All the girls were given the same blue-grey color to wear, but were each told to choose their own dress. They both wanted their friends and family to have a sense of individuality. 

“Hey brother, how are you holding up?” Gemma asks, she holds his hand and smiles at him. 

“I’ve finally stopped crying, how’s my boy?” 

“I’m fine, thank you for asking about me, your beautiful sister in law! He’s okay, he actually has a request of you.” She says as she holds up a blindfold. Louis’ eyebrows shoot up. 

“He’s changed his mind about the first look photos, he says it’s better that you have that moment between the two of you instead of in front of a crowded barn with goats outside. So what do you say brother? Ready to get kinky on your wedding day?” Gemma laughs out, Louis wants to tell her it won’t be the last time him and Harry get kinky on their wedding day. 

“Can I just promise to keep my eyes closed? I don’t want to mess up my hair or makeup.”

“He knew you would say that, I just wanted to be dramatic.” She says. 

As she leads him and the photographer, Shawn, to where the photos will be taken, he starts joking with Shawn since he’s all Louis can see. Shawn has Louis facing him, Louis looks out into the grass and thinks this is a truly beautiful place to get married to Harry. Shawn starts snapping photos of Louis.

“Is he behind me? He’s gonna try to scare me if he’s behind me.”

“No, he’s not here yet, he’s taking photos with my assistant right now but they’ll be here soon. You just had a fond look on your face.” 

“I was thinking about the goat.”

A moment passes before he hears him.

“You would be thinking about that goat instead of me on a day like this.” Harry laughs out. Louis doesn’t dare turn around until Shawn tells him to, or Harry. He’s not sure who will be directing him he can’t even really think. 

“Hush, you.” Louis says. He feels Harry’s hand on his shoulder, he notices the soft pink polish on his nails. 

“Baby Honey, you can turn around now.” Harry whispers. 

Louis is shocked by how fast the tears form in his eyes when he does finally turn around. Everything fades around them, the only thing Louis can focus on his his Almost Husband, Harry Fucking Styles. 

“Petal, you look so beautiful, I can’t even describe it.” And he’s right, Harry has peach eye makeup on with a subtle rose shimmer on his lids, his face makeup looks gorgeous and his highlight is a soft champagne color. He’s never looked more beautiful. His pin is a pink heart that says ‘choose love’ which is appropriate for the day, and his lips are rosy pink and Louis leans up to kiss him quick.

“Louuuuu, you can’t kiss me just yet!” Harry squeaks.

“Well, I just did so.” Louis says slowly. 

They just stand there for a while holding hands and looking at each other.

“Babe, you look so gorgeous, I can’t wait to be yours forever.”

“Till we’re old and saggy?”

“Till we’re old and saggy.” Harry confirms. Louis hugs him then, and holds on tighter than when he came back from being undercover. 

“I love you, you beautiful bitch.” Louis laughs as he tells Harry his favorite compliment. Harry flips his hair and laughs into Louis’ neck. 

 

They finish taking their photos, both of them completely forgetting that Shawn and his assistant Rita were even there with them in the field. Nick and Gemma take each of them and separate them again, Louis didn’t realize that that small moment would cause him to miss Harry so much more when they’re separated again. It’s only a small wait before people start gathering for the line up, Louis’ party mixing with Harry’s for the walk down the aisle. Louis makes his way to the altar, he gets stopped every few rows to shake hands and tell people hello, but he finally makes it up to the altar. The venue offered to have a flower arch, but Harry and Louis both decided they wanted a succulent variety to be their flowers for the wedding, they’re everywhere. Succulents are mixed in the flowers for the table arrangements, they’re in the girls’ bouquets and the men’s boutonnieres. So instead of a flower arch, they have a succulent arch, the manager of the venue has told them that she can’t decide if she loves them or hates them. 

Louis stands up on the altar and waves at his stepdad in the first row. He shakes hands with the officiant, her name is Evelyn and she’s been an ordained minister for twelve years, but eventually became an officiant for same sex couples only since the bill was passed that same sex marriage was legal. Harry fell in love with her the moment she explained her history, Louis was equally amazed. 

Eventually the music begins and Gemma and Nick walk down the aisle followed by Lottie and Fizzy, Niall and Zayn, and then Jesy and Liam. Everyone looks beautiful, the men’s ties match the color of the girls’ dresses. Next his mom and Harry’s mom walk down and each give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, his mom has tears in her eyes and she whispers a quick ‘good luck,’ to him. Ernest and Doris both skip down the aisle throwing petals and leaves rather harshly Louis thinks. They’re just smiling and pushing each other and throwing petals at the ground and at the people in the chairs closest to the makeshift aisle. 

Blue is running down the aisle towards Louis, he laughs and squats down to pet her once she reaches him. He also takes the rings off her collar and hands them to Nick and Gemma. She sits right next to him up on the altar. The music changes and the guests stand up. 

Louis looks up to see Harry who is wearing his beautiful patterned suit and sparkle boots. He’s smiling and his dimples are out on display. Louis’ eyes tear up again, but he pays no attention to it. Harry is walking towards him and he’s stunning, Blue notices her other dad and runs to walk with him, Harry stops his walk and pets her head and motions for her to walk with him. Their guests laugh and so does Louis. When Harry makes it up to Louis, he leans in and kisses him on the cheek telling him hello. Blue goes back to her spot next to Louis and looks up at her two dads. 

Louis can’t stop looking at Harry, he’s gorgeous. His suit is tailored perfectly and his hair looks so soft and shiny Louis can’t wait to play with it later. He’s got flowers threaded through his curls, Louis thinks its called baby’s breath. Harry is smiling at him and Louis is smiling back, Harry’s dimples are out in full force and he keeps making faces at Louis. Louis is watching his mouth and he sees Harry say his name. When he looks up he realizes he’s been zoned out and Harry and Evelyn are asking for him for his vows. 

“Sorry,” he says and their guests laugh along with Harry, “I was paying attention I promise!” Harry’s laughing even harder now. 

“You don’t have to lie, babe. But it’s your turn to tell this entire barn how much you love me.” Harry smiles at Louis, his silly one that always makes Louis laugh. Louis nods his head and lets out a long breath, he tightens his hold on Harry’s hand and begins his vows.

“My love. When we met it wasn’t love at first sight, hell we pranked each other for years before admitting it was all for show. Because it was love, because it is love, and will always be love. You challenge me to be better but you accept me as the man I am. I vow that I will grow with you, and hold your hand as we grow together. The only thing that makes sense to me anymore is how much I love you, and how much I can’t wait to start our lives together. I was stumbling through life and you steadied me with a guiding hand. So Harry, I want to thank you for being my best friend, my partner, and above all my love. I promise to continue to be the best partner for you I can be, and I promise to never turn away from you.” Louis is crying, Harry is crying, even Evelyn looks like she’s crying too. Louis goes to continue but he takes a breath and whispers, “There’s only one more thing I have to say to you. I love you bitch.” Harry laughs out. 

“I ain’t gon never stop loving you, bitch.” Harry adds. They forget for a moment that there is a microphone so the entire party can hear them. They’re reminded by Ernest whisper shouting from the front row. 

“Mom what’s a bitch?” Louis laughs out loud and Harry wipes the tears off his face, Louis reaches out to wipe Harry’s tears as well. 

“Now, Mr. Styles if you will give your vows?” Evelyn asks. Louis watches as Harry takes a deep breath and wipes his tears again, god bless Lottie and her waterproof mascara they should really write an online review. 

“Baby Honey,” Louis snorts but lets Harry continue, “Louis I love you, you’re bold and you’re strong and your passion inspires me, but you’re more than that. You’re the man who goes above and beyond to make my day, you’re the man that will be vulnerable with me and will accept my vulnerability in return. You encourage me to be the most interesting version of myself and you enjoy every form I take. For a long time I wondered if I was good enough to love you, and you show me every day that we deserve each other's love. You said once that every version of you would love every version of me and that is true, no matter what universe we belong together because we deserve each other. I vow to stand by your side through everything life throws at us. I vow to be your partner and your best friend. I vow to make every day we spend together filled with love and respect. I love you, I respect you, but most of all I like you. I can’t wait to get old and saggy with you by my side.” 

Harry’s openly crying now and Louis isn’t any better, Blue has started whining noticing the emotions from the two. Louis leans down to kiss her on the head and try to calm her, and Harry does the same. Louis gives Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and hears Gemma snort from behind Harry. Louis can also hear Nick sobbing very loudly from right behind him, so he steps back onto Nick’s foot to give him a silent ‘shut up.’ Evelyn clears her throat. 

“Well, wasn’t that lovely, boys? Now I would like you to share your rings with each other repeat after me.” Harry grabs the ring for Louis from Gemma and Louis does the same from Nick. Harry gives Louis his ring first. He holds Louis’ hand and slides the ring on his finger repeating the words Evelyn spoke. 

“Take this ring as a symbol of my love, fidelity, and respect.” 

Louis does the same with Harry’s ring and repeats the words as well.

“Take this ring as a symbol of my love, fidelity, and respect.” Their tears have finally stopped flowing, but the dopey smiles on their faces haven’t wavered. 

“By the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and husband! You may kiss the groom!” Evelyn says loudly for the entire wedding party to hear. Harry leans down to meet Louis in the middle and they kiss. 

This kiss is unlike any other, Louis thinks. It’s something new, it’s a start to forever. The wedding party cheers and stands up from the seats as Harry and Louis kiss a few small pecks one after the other, laughing into each other's mouths. Louis and Harry lead the procession down the aisle to the outside reception area. Louis and Harry are also escorted to a private room where they get a moment to themselves before being reintroduced to their guests. 

“We’ve done it, petal. We’re married.” Louis smiles at his husband. 

“I’m a Tomlinson now, I’m ecstatic.” Harry’s smile is so wide it must hurt. Which was another thing that they had a spat about, last names. Harry wanted to take Louis’ last name and Louis wanted them to hyphenate. Harry said while he loved being independent as a Styles, he doesn’t have to be anymore. And he said he’s been daydreaming about being a Tomlinson for years now and to not kill his vibe. Louis let him win that fight. They’re sitting in their private room now talking about the ceremony and what people wore when there’s a knock on the door. An attendant steps in the room and peeks around the door. 

“Ah, sirs! I normally catch people in various states of undress. I’m pleased you are not added to that list! I have food for you to eat since tonight is going to be a long night with little food.” The attendant finishes talking and shows them to the cart of food from the caterer. He leaves the room and Harry and Louis shove food into each other’s faces. 

“Wait, babe wait! Don’t get sauce on my suit.” Harry pouts, so Louis listens he also doesn’t want to get Harry’s suit messy before the party. That’s an after party sort of activity. “Babe did you see what Cheryl was wearing? Who wears something that short to a wedding?” Louis laughs because Harry is right, she was wearing a distastefully short dress, his own mom was upset about it. 

“I know, inappropriate. If anyone gets to wear a too short dress, it’s you.” 

“Thank you, baby.” Harry says through a mouthful of chicken. Eventually the attendant comes back into the room saying everyone is in the reception area and the dj is waiting to announce them. They slip their shoes back on and follow the attendant out of the private room. When they reach the doors leading outside they wait until their cue. 

“And now presenting Mr. and Mr. Tomlinson!” The dj announces over the loudspeaker, the guests start cheering and Harry and Louis walk out onto the dance floor. They make their way to the makeshift dance floor and get in position. They didn’t take lessons because they wanted their dance to be natural, and unplanned. Much like their relationship. 

_Hold You In My Arms_ starts playing and they sway under the lights. Louis rests his head on Harry’s chest. 

“I’m so glad you chose me, Harry.” 

“I’m so glad you gave me the choice.” Louis kisses Harry on his collarbone, which has been exposed since the ceremony. The moment they had entered the room Harry unbuttoned four buttons on his shirt and opened his jacket. He looks into the crowd of their guests and sees their moms together smiling at the two of them. 

The rest of their reception passes in a similar fashion, Harry and Louis wrapped up in each other and them greeting guests and telling hello to the random cousins that have come out the woodwork. Their attendant trails them the whole time, and makes sure they have full drinks in their hands. Louis is pretty sure if he doesn’t get some food in his system this wedding will be over sooner rather than later. Their attendant- Louis missed his name when he first introduced himself because he was distracted by Harry’s lips and now he’s too embarrassed to ask- pulls them near where the cake is set up. He explains that the toast will be before the cake cutting. Harry leads Louis to stand next to the cake. Lottie and Nick and Gemma along with the rest of the grooms party. 

A smaller crowd gathers around the table, including their moms and stepdads and the rest of the squad. Louis is surprised to see Winston and Azoff still have their shirts on and sends a silent prayer to the gods to keep it that way. He watches as someone hands Harry a microphone and he smiles because this can only go one way.

“Hiiiiiiiiiiii.” The guests laugh as does Louis, “so we decided no speeches, mainly because Nick would cry and Gemma would make fun of me. But we both insisted that our Captain speak in front of our families. This man has been trying to push us together longer than I can imagine, so give it up for Captain Liam Payne!” Harry shouts into the microphone before handing it to Liam. 

“Hello friends and family of Detectives Tomlinson..and Tomlinson. I was asked by my two best detectives to speak on their love in front of you all. At first I was apprehensive about the idea, but I’ve come around to say: Love Is Pain, but what a beautiful pain it is. These two have mastered the balance of pain and peace. I’ve watched every high and low of their relationship so far, and they understand the importance of trust, communication, and respect. All things needed for a successful partnership.” Liam takes a moment to look at Harry and Louis, “I am proud of these two, I am beyond pleased that they are entering this new phase in their lives together, with all of us. Let us raise our glasses to Louis and Harry Tomlinson!” The crowd cheers and Harry and Louis kiss. 

They move to cut the cake and Louis pushes a very small amount into Harry’s mouth, not nearly enough to deserve the chunk of cake that Harry pushes into his mouth. They laugh and kiss through the icing. When they make it back out onto the dancefloor they go to dance with their families, Louis knows he’s monopolizing all of Harry’s time, but he can’t help that he can’t keep his hands off his husband. They twirl the girls in circles and slow dance with their moms. When the night comes to an end, Harry puts his arm around Louis’ waist. 

“Well, petal, are you ready to go home?” Louis asks and looks up at Harry. He watches Harry grin and blush.

“As long as we’re together, anywhere is home.” 

“I can’t believe I married someone as cheesy as you!” Louis cracks up laughing. 

“Like brie.” And bingpot does Louis love his husband. They say their goodbyes to their friends and family. Harry goes to throw one of the girls bouquets and Zayn catches it. They leave the venue and head towards their home, Blue resting on both their laps. 

“Well, today was the start of the rest of our lives. What do you have to say about that, love?” Louis looks over at Harry and notices how large his pupils expanded to. 

“I’d say thank you, Daddy.” 

********  
Two Years Later

They’ve settled into their roles as husbands very easily. They still have their arguments, but Louis thinks married life suits them. They’ve recently moved into a home rather than an apartment and they have two extra rooms. One is set as an office/garden room and the other is a guest bedroom. Originally, they were only looking for a two bedroom, but the discussion of how many children they wanted got in the way so they went for a three bedroom. Louis loves their home, it’s light and soft and the perfect mixture of Harry and Louis. They rarely have the same days off anymore due to Harry’s new role in the precinct, but today they requested off since it’s their anniversary. 

They’re in bed watching youtube videos and eating breakfast and Blue is sleeping on Louis’ lap. They’re having a very lowkey day since that’s what Harry requested of their two year anniversary. The years have flown by, Harry made Sergeant and had a freak out about the change in their power dynamic. Louis assured him that he always knew Harry would be his boss one day and that he can’t wait to be married to a Sergeant. Harry turns towards Louis and kisses him softly. 

“Do you remember what we said?” Harry asks him.

“Uhhh, be more specific, petal.”

“Love, fidelity, and respect. Still true?” 

“Still true, love.” Louis watches as Harry smiles and leans in for another kiss. 

“Good. Oh, lets watch Liv! She’s probably got a new video out from last week.” 

Harry types in ‘LivAGoodOne’ and clicks on her page. Liv is one of their favorites, she’s a lifestyle blogger who gets paid to travel and review different products. They love her because she’s openly aroace and they learned a lot about Liam through watching her videos, Liam has always been open about his sexuality, but now that Louis and Harry have a bit more insider knowledge, they are all benefiting from it. Liam invites them over for family dinner once a month. 

Liv recently went through IVF treatments and vlogged her entire experience, it’s one of Louis’ favorite videos. Watching her go through the selection process and actually get pregnant was such a beautiful experience and he’s glad she shared it with her viewers. She’s always been open about wanting to start a family, but desperately wanting to do it alone. She didn’t want to deal with custody or any other familial issues which is another thing Louis respects the hell out of. She’s discussed how she is estranged from her only remaining family, and her being alone does not make her weak it makes her stronger for her and her future child. 

She has a check in video for every month of the pregnancy as well as the three months her daughter, Maia, has been alive. And Maia is gorgeous, she’s got the most beautiful brown skin and her hair is almost auburn, the thing that gets Louis and Harry is her freckles. Harry and Louis are obsessed, they think they’re the cutest mom and daughter duo. Liv always dresses Maia in adorable gender neutral clothing because she insists that her daughter should get to choose what gender she feels comfortable with. 

Louis watches as Harry searches for the video with a line between his brows and a frown on his face. Harry mumbles under his breath and Louis asks if he’s alright. 

“I’m fine, the video she posted is strange though, look at the thumbnail and the title.” The title is ‘She’s All Mine.’ and the woman in the thumbnail is definitely not Liv. 

“Click on it see what’s going on.”

The video opens and it’s showing blood on the floor and Maia crying in her crib. Someone is walking around with the camera and singing a creepy lullaby to Maia. Louis pauses the video. 

“H, what the fuck is happening in this video? She doesn’t do prank videos.” Harry shrugs and presses play again. 

The video continues as someone walks around Liv’s entire home running their hand across every surface. The camera finally stops moving and a woman positions herself in front of it. 

“Hello, my name is Rosa. Liv is gone now, and I’m taking Maia. I deserve to have this baby even if Liv didn’t want to be a part of this family. You’ll never find us, Maia is mine now I’m her new mom. The police will never catch me, they’re dumbdumbs and won’t ever catch on to my plans.” the footage cuts off after she finishes her rant. 

Louis and Harry look at each other and both jump out of bed. Harry starts throwing shirts at Louis and Louis starts getting dressed. They rush through the bathroom and brush their teeth, Louis puts Harry’s hair up for him and Harry puts Louis’ watch on him. They call out a goodbye to Blue and head out to the station. When they get there they rush through the squad room and towards the briefing room. 

“Alright, if everyone could join us!” Harry calls out to the squad, they all wander in each looking confused. 

“Sarge, isn’t it your day off? And Louis isn’t it your day off too?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, it’s your anniversary, what are you two doing here?” Niall speaks up.

“Well, we were spending a lovely morning in bed.” The squad groans but Louis continues, “Not like that you pervs, we were watching youtube videos. And one of our favorite bloggers appears to have been murdered. Her three month old Maia has been kidnapped as well. This is our new case.” 

“The murderer/kidnapper has posted a video showing blood on the floor and Maia crying in her crib, she then put her face on the video and her name is Rosa. Nick, I want you to look into this and see if Liv has had issues with stalkers before. Zayn I want you to look into Liv’s subscribers and find the Rosa from the video, check twitter if you have to. Niall, I know you’re big online so if you have any information that would be helpful.” Harry puts out his orders. 

“Actually I do know a bit about Liv? So I know that she’s spoken about stalkers before, but it was always creepy dudes that thought they would change her sexuality. So she got security for a while and then things calmed down. But this Rosa person, I’ve seen her before, but I just can’t place it. I will look online though, since I know this is important due to her baby being missing.”

“Thank you, Niall, keep us posted. Okay everyone get to work.” Harry says and turns to Louis. 

“Babe, I think we need to find Rosa sooner rather than later. I want Maia to be safe.”

“We’ll find her, love. Don’t worry, Rosa won’t hurt her.”

They spend the rest of the day trying to figure out where Rosa went and track her movements. They run facial and find out her name is Rosa Diaz, there’s little on her, just an old parking ticket tied to her name. They find her old apartment, Nick and Jesy go to investigate and its empty but shows that someone had just gone through and packed up everything. So Harry and Louis are convinced she hit the road. 

“Hey, Tomlinsons?” Hopefully Niall has good news.

“Yes Niall?” Harry and Louis say at the same time.

“Freaky. Okay so Rosa is Rosa Diaz, she runs a fan account of Liv that is scary accurate of her location at all times. She has multiple fan accounts of Liv, I’m talkin twitter, instagram, and tumblr.”

“Okay, but how does this help us?”

“Well, she’s talked about how undeserving Maia is of having Liv’s undivided attention. And she’s talked about ‘hypothetical’ plans to fix the situation. It includes driving to Ottowa, Canada.” Niall finishes.

“Thank you, Niall!” Harry says and kisses him on the forehead. 

Nick and Zayn had processed Liv’s apartment, they said it was blunt force trauma, one hit so she didn’t suffer. They find no evidence of where Rosa went after she left Liv’s place. But they said she did pack a ton of Maia’s stuff including baby formula, clothes, and toys. They find the posts Niall was talking about with Jesy’s help, and run a BOLO on her license plate. They get nothing, and by the end of the day there’s still no sign of Rosa with Maia. Harry and Louis decide to work all night, neither of them can stomach the thought of going to sleep while that baby is missing. 

“Lou, you don’t think she’ll hurt Maia do you? She was posting such negative things about her and she’s a baby, she can’t defend herself. I mean you saw what she did to Liv and she could defend herself,” Harry says with a worried frown on his face. Louis reaches up and smoothes the line in between Harry’s brows. 

“We’re going to find them both, alive. We have the right people on this case and with Niall’s help we have a lot of information about Rosa before the attack which will help during negotiations. Maia will be okay, Nick said Rosa took excellent care in what she packed. We’re going to find her and she will be okay.” Louis tries to calm Harry’s worries, but Louis is shitting it honestly. He’s terrified Rosa is going to harm little Maia. With the publicity the story is getting they’re all under a magnifying glass and the precinct really needs a win. 

They have nothing to go off until 3 am, when they get a hit on her license plate. A cop near a gas station in Alexandria Bay. They get clearance to get on a plane to beat Rosa to Ottowa. The plane ride is a little more than an hour, but Harry and Louis spend the entire time with their hands held together tightly. Harry tells Louis something that Louis genuinely cannot believe.

“You know, there’s something about Maia that seems so familiar to me. Like I knew her in another life, that’s why I love Liv’s videos so much.”

“Huh, maybe you saw her in a fever dream or something?” Louis offers. 

“Louis, holy fuck that’s it! Remember how I told you about the strange dreams I had when I was in a coma?”

“Yeah the one where we were married and you were holding a little baby? No wait, Harry are you saying what I think you’re saying?” 

“I swear to you it’s the exact same baby. What do you think it means, though? Because, the rings we were wearing in my dream are the rings we’re wearing on our fingers right now.” Harry pointedly looks down at their hands. 

“I don’t know what to say, this is just crazy. I believe you! But it’s wild.” Their conversation is cut short by the Captain saying they’re about to land. When they turn their phones back on Louis’ starts ringing with a call from Niall.

“I hope you two just landed, Rosa was seen parking at the airport. She hasn’t purchased her tickets yet but in the security footage Maia is still with her and alive. Go find her you two!” Niall hangs up on Louis before he can even respond. 

“Why is Niall giving us police updates even though he’s not a police officer?” 

“Don’t let him hear you say that, he’ll go on his rant about how being a cop is a state of mind.” Louis watches Harry huff out a breath and roll his eyes. When they exit the plane they inform the airport security of the issue and they get to look over the tapes. They find her in the food court feeding Maia at a table. Harry and Louis get permission to pursue her with back up from airport security. 

When they reach Rosa and Maia, Louis notices that Rosa looks different from the video, not as manic. Harry takes the lead and pulls up a chair at Rosa’s table while Louis and the rest of security are still behind Rosa. 

“Your baby is just darlin!” Louis loves it when Harry uses his fake southern accent in busts, it always reminds him of that case with the dick graffit artist. 

“Uh, thanks. Do you mind leaving?” Rosa says after looking at Harry up and down. 

“Oh no! I was wondering if I could hold her? You see, me and my husband have just been dying to have a baby! But our surrogate dropped out last minute and we’re just absolutely heartbroken! So can I hold her?” Harry asks with a fake smile on his face.

“Uh, sure. Be quick about it though.” 

Harry leans over to take Maia out of her carrier and gives Louis a shake of the head. Louis then jumps into action and handcuffs Rosa and reads her her rights, someone is filming this but Louis doesn’t even care. They get Rosa to confess rather quickly and Harry hasn’t even looked up from Maia. It’s then that Louis notices the look on his face. And Louis knows that look, it’s the look that gets them in trouble at work all the time. 

Louis walks over to where Harry is holding Maia.

“Hey, kitten. Is she okay?”

“She’s beautiful.” Harry whispers. Louis watches as Maia’s big brown eyes look at him and he’s a goner. 

“She’s lovely, H.” 

They stand there for a moment while airport security breaks up the crowd that had gathered around them. One of the officers has all of Maia’s things and a soft look on her face. Harry hands Louis the baby and they start cooing at her. 

“Here sirs, these are the baby’s things.” 

“Ah, thank you! Do you think we’ll be able to take her on the plane? She’s so small, can you fly with fresh babies?” Louis asks. 

“Sir, you can fly with a newborn if you really need to,” the officer laughs, “Just make sure she has a pacifier in her mouth so her ears don’t hurt her.” She hands Harry the bag of Maia’s things and goes back towards the other officers and Rosa. 

“I know we can’t keep her, but just imagine if she was ours, Lou.”

“I want to keep her so badly. We have to appear in front of family court probably tomorrow, though, so we better get going, it’s already late. 

The airport sets them up on the next flight, Harry keeps hold of Rosa and Louis wouldn’t let go of Maia unless he’s handing her to Harry. When they board the flight, Harry changes Rosa’s cuffs to be in front of her so she can sit comfortably during the flight. Take off goes well but Maia starts to get fussy during the second half of the flight. Louis asks the attendant if he can walk with her and she agrees. Louis walks with Maia and sings to her and she eventually falls asleep right before they land at JFK. 

They take Rosa in as well as baby Maia. The entire squad, besides Winston and Azoff, fawns all over her, she really is the cutest baby they’ve seen since Niall and Gina’s baby Enigma. Liam calls Louis over into his office so he makes sure someone can hold Maia for a moment before entering his Captain’s office. 

“Tomlinson, I just got off the phone with the judge that will be presiding over baby Maia’s case. She asked if there was a stable and open home she could go to for the time being, since her trial in family court will be at the end of this week. So I suggested you and Sergeant Tomlinson take her.”

“Captain, what?”

“Baby Maia needs a home for the next couple of days. You and Harry have a home. Now take your husband and the baby and go there.”

“Thank you Captain. Liam, I mean it.” Liam just nods his head and Louis jumps into action. 

“Here, let me take her.” He takes Maia from Jesy and turns to Harry, “We have temporary care of Maia while we wait for the trial. Liam just told us to take her and go home.” Louis watches Harry’s face as he processes things and the smile that takes over his face is the same smile from their wedding day.

“Oh my god! Okay, bye everyone!” He grabs Maia’s bag and carrier and basically runs to the elevator. 

“We don’t have a carseat, Louis what are we going to do?” 

“Maybe just strap the carrier in really good and first thing tomorrow we can get one?” When they get down to the garage Jesy is waiting next to their car with a carseat. 

“Hey guys, I know you don’t have a carseat but since my girls are out of town with my husband until next weekend you can borrow one of theirs.” Jesy explains to them. Harry jumps to hug her.

“Oh thank you!!! Jes!” She shows them how to install it in their car correctly and then shows them how to strap Maia in. Since she’s so young she has to face the back of the car so she makes sure they know to always have her facing the back. They say their goodbyes and Harry decides to sit in the back to watch her as they drive to their house. 

“Louis, I love her.”

“I know, I love her too. Remember she isn’t ours though, my love. This is temporary.” Harry sighs and Louis pulls into their driveway. Louis gathers Maia’s things and Harry gets Maia out the car seat while Louis unlocks the house. They hear Blue running to greet them, Louis gives her belly a rub while Harry walks in. Louis lets Blue out and when he comes back in its to a lovely sight. 

“And this right here, Baby, is our sofa. We fell in love on this sofa I think. And this, Baby, is our kitchen. Louis asked me to move in with him in my old kitchen. And, Baby our bedroom is back here, I’m not telling you our bedroom secrets though, maybe when you’re older. But Baby, this is my favorite plant but don’t tell the others they will get jealous.” Harry continues to show Maia every little thing he can think of and Louis just stands in the hallway holding Blue, even though she is definitely too heavy for him to carry now that she’s five. He sets Blue down and goes over to where Harry is introducing Maia to all of the family photos on the walls. 

“Babe, can I hold her for a moment? I want to introduce her to Blue.” Harry nods and kisses her on the forehead before passing her to Louis. Louis rubs his nose against Maia’s and she lets out a small laugh. Harry looks like he could cry if he thought about it hard enough. 

Louis goes to sit on the sofa with Maia facing outwards. He pats the sofa and Blue jumps up, almost hesitant like when he first brought her home. 

“Blue baby, this is Maia, can you be gentle?” Blue still listens to Louis best after all these years, and when Louis breaks out his ‘Blue voice’ Blue is always more gentle. Louis watches as Blue shuffles closer to him and Maia. Blue starts sniffing the air around Maia as if to determine whether she’s fresh or not. She then stands up to her full height, for a moment Louis is worried she will start growling but Blue walks towards them and licks Maia right on the forehead. Maia lets out a small gurgle and Blue licks her again. 

“Lou! Germs! Don’t let her lick the baby.” Harry says from the chair next to the sofa.

“Nah, she’s okay. We can bathe her in a moment and put her down for bed.” Louis laughs when Blue rolls over and puts her head basically in Maia’s lap. “Look they like each other!” Louis smiles up at Harry. 

The rest of the night is spent doing much of the same, Harry runs out to buy a cheap bassinet and a small lovey toy. When he gets back they set the bassinet up in their room and sit down for dinner. They have leftover chicken stew and Baby has a bottle. They decide to take a bath together, because neither one wants to let her go and they bought the house for the enormous bathtub in the master bath. It runs long and wide and it’s perfect for nights when they want to soak. Maia enjoys the bath and splashes in the water. Getting her out is more of an issue when she starts screaming as they take her out of the warm water. Blue immediately jumps and barks, trying to let them know ‘hey the small one is sad.’ They get her in a diaper and swaddled up before laying her down to sleep. By the time Maia is actually asleep Harry and Louis aren’t far off. They’re exhausted from having pulled an all nighter the night before and dealing with a crying baby for the first time in years really does tire them out. 

They fall asleep on top of one another with the bassinet next to the bed and Blue with her snout pressed to it. 

**

Temporary custody for a few nights turns into temporary custody for a month. Maia at four months old has started to roll over, she gets stuck halfway but they’re still very proud. She’s got one bottom tooth and her hair is growing longer and curlier by the day. When she’s frustrated she makes a ‘ba ba ba’ sound with a furrow on her brow. Louis is in love with her and Harry can’t get enough. Gemma stops by to play with her when she can and the entire Tomlinson clan has fallen in love with her. Fizzy gets hired as their nanny, she takes her courses online and had recently quit her job at a daycare so it was a perfect setup for the family. 

Louis has been in contact with one of the best family lawyers he can afford, updating him on Maia’s development and they’ve gone through an inspection from child services since the court date had been pushed back. Louis is prepared to file for adoption and full custody as is Harry, only Harry cries when he thinks about giving Maia to the state to be put up for adoption. One time when Maia was having a full blown screaming fest, they played one of Liv’s videos where she was talking about her favorite recipe, Maia calmed down immediately and Harry started bawling saying how they were terrible parents, and would never be like her mom. Louis had just finished calming one of his babies down and then he moved onto his other baby. He calmed him down explaining that she’s used to her mom’s voice when she’s upset and that in due time she will be okay with them trying to comfort her. 

Their court date is set for today, and Harry is absolutely freaking out. Louis’ tried everything to calm him down, he’s braided and styled his hair in a low bun and did Harry’s makeup. Only a tinted moisturizer and mascara for both of them today. He’s set out outfits for both of them that coordinate but are professional, he’s even set out their guns and badges next to each other because he knows seeing them together makes Harry smile. Louis even made Harry his favorite no nonsense breakfast, toast and coffee. Nothing is working to calm him down so Louis does the only thing he can think of and gets down on his knees for his husband. 

Once finished with the proper aftercare, Louis cleans his husband off and dresses him. He makes sure Harry’s hair is perfect as well as his own and he gets them ready to appear at the courthouse. Louis already dressed Maia in an adorable black and white striped tee and knitted yellow overalls and a knitted beanie. She tends to run cold, they’ve discovered, but they always pack extra clothes in case she gets too warm. Louis makes sure Maia is buckled into her carrier and makes sure his husband is properly ready before leading them both to the car to be on their way to the courthouse. 

By the time they make it to the courthouse, they are almost an hour early. But Liam had told them that it shows good parenting if you can get your spouse and child out of the house with ample time to spare, so that’s what Louis did. He greets his lawyer, a man named Rodney, and they share some small talk while they wait for Liam to arrive. Liam had promised to be there for moral support as well as a witness. Liam arrives in full Captain gear and with a smile on his face, he reaches to hold Maia and coos down at her. 

“So Judge Benson is presiding over our case, she almost always votes in favor of the couple requesting custody. Since you are both in law enforcement it helps your case, you are both good, just people that get drug tested regularly. Another thing going for you is that Liv has no other family, Judge Benson hates putting children in the system if she doesn’t have to. Everything is going to be fine.” Liam tells them, he says it in a funny voice though because he’s talking to Maia trying to keep her entertained. Louis never imagined what Liam’s baby voice would be like, but he’s glad he knows. 

“Thanks, Cap. We’re going to do everything we can to convince the judge that we are the best option for Maia.” Harry says. He’s calmed down drastically but the nerves are still evident. 

They wait until they are called into the courtroom. Louis, Harry and Maia sit with the lawyer and wait. Liam sits behind them and gives Louis a squeeze on his shoulder as he sits down. Judge Benson walks to the stand and everyone stands. They’re told to sit and Louis grabs Harry’s hand. 

“We are here to discuss the custody of Maia Olive Farfalle. Now, I understand she has been under the care of Sergeant Tomlinson and..Detective Tomlinson, am I correct?” She looks up from her file and looks at their lawyer. 

“Yes, your honor.” 

“And it’s also come to my attention that through an investigation the child’s mother had no other living relatives. So the child is orphaned by the state, unless anyone here today would like to file for custody?” 

“Yes, your honor my clients, Harry and Louis Tomlinson would like to file for custody and adopt baby Maia.” 

“Very well, do we have any evidence that their home is suitable for children?”

“Yes, there have been two inspections while my clients were in custody of baby Maia. And also, as they are both members of law enforcement, they are drug tested regularly. Their home passed both inspections as did they pass the initial interview from social work. Their Captain has come to speak on their behalf if needed, your honor.” 

“I don’t think that will be necessary, she looks happy and healthy. She’s well taken care of financially and emotionally I think they have handled their temporary custody of the baby well. I do want both men to tell me why I should grant them full custody though.” She looks up from her papers with a small grin on her face. “You don’t have to come on the stand, just in your own words.” Harry looks to Louis with a look that makes it known that Harry does not want to speak first. 

“Your Honor, Harry and I have been in love for six years and married for two, we never imagined a child would fall into our lives the way Maia has. But we’ve both been blessed to spend the little time we have spent with her. I think you should award us custody because we truly care about the well being of this child. It might be selfish, but Judge Benson, I love this little girl and can’t think of a life without her in it.” Louis finishes, Harry has a teary look on his face. Maia makes a noise in her carrier so Louis leans down to pick her up while Harry speaks. 

“Your Honor, about three years ago I was shot and put into a coma, and I promise there’s a reason I’m telling you. When I was in the coma I kept having these strange dreams, Louis and I were married in the dreams, when we had only just started dating in real life. In one of the dreams I was holding a small baby, with freckles and red hair and the most beautiful brown eyes you’ve ever seen. Keep in mind this was three years ago, and that baby is in my husbands arms right now as I stand here telling you we deserve this baby. Maia, for some reason before she was even conceived, was meant to be ours and I believe it. We may not be perfect, but we are partners above all and together we both truly want the best for this baby. If you think we aren’t the best for her I will understand and respect it, however it will break our hearts.” Harry’s voice cracks at the end of his speech so Louis moves to hold his hand. Judge Benson clears her throat and adjusts her glasses. 

“Well, alright then, I grant both Harry and Louis Tomlinson full custody of Maia Olive Farfalle. You’ll have to go through paperwork, but she’s all yours!” she smiles at them.

Louis just holds Maia tighter, he feels Harry wrap himself around them, and Liam joining in on the hug. He can’t believe his family is his. 

**

Louis wakes up to his hair being pulled and a toddler leg in his face. He can hear his husband laughing from behind him and his daughter squealing from above him. He opens his eyes and sees Maia with two hands in his hair and a toothy smile on her face. He loved Maia as a baby, but Maia as a toddler is something else. She’s goofy and sweet with a temper they don’t know how to handle. She’s always laughing and she always shares her snacks. She almost never stops laughing and they can’t get enough of her. 

For a twenty two month old she’s got more hair than any of Louis’ sisters had. And he genuinely does not know how to style it. He can do simple braids and french braids but he knows they aren’t giving her hair the care it deserves. He spoke to Harry about it last night, and they found a class held by a woman named Sandy who teaches new moms and dads how to care for their child’s hair. Louis signed up right away and the classes start tonight. He’s excited to learn all about the products and styling techniques that will best help Maia and her curls. 

They love their cozy days in bed which are few, but they love their time to just be a family in bed with lazy smiles on their faces. Fizzy is still Maia’s nanny, and she’s now in her final year of classes. Their lives settled with Maia easily, Louis requested less time at work so Harry could continue working towards Captain status. He’s about a year away from being considered a candidate for Captain and Louis has his fingers crossed. Louis doesn’t mind the time at home though, he gets to spend more time with Maia and Blue and he gets to practice his cooking for when Harry comes home. Domesticity suits him, who knew?

Maia is still giggling from above Louis’ head, now because he’s started to tickle her. He reaches over and pokes Harry in the side and he joins in on the tickle fest happening. 

“Ahh! Maia the tickle monster is getting me too! Help me, darling, help me!” Harry laughs out. Maia’s laughs get louder with her father’s prompting. 

“Da! Da!” 

“Yes my gorgeous girl! I am your Da, but I’m also the tickle monster now!” Louis says and pokes her tummy.

“Da! Tum!” Maia giggles and holds her tummy with one hand and Louis’ face with the other. 

They spend their lazy morning in the kitchen after that, Harry makes them pancakes and Louis helps Maia eat while Harry sneaks a pancake to Blue. 

“Hey, H. You remember my hair class is tonight right?” Harry looks up from reading the newspaper to Maia.

“Yeah of course, me and Miss Maia Moo are going to make you a nice dinner, is pasta okay?”

“Of course, don’t forget she’s only eating butter pasta. This child knows good food.”

“Louis, she’s not even two yet. Butter pasta is the caviar of toddler food.” Harry looks unimpressed. 

“I know, I love it. Our little food connoisseur.” Louis leans over and boops Maia on the nose, she pretends to bite his finger. They go back and forth for a bit while Harry looks on. 

“Let me keep reading the paper to her, she loves the classifieds!” Harry pouts, Louis stops playing with his girl and goes to water the plants and let Blue out. He lives for days like these. When he started dating Harry all those years ago he had no idea he would enjoy mornings where he waters the plants while Harry reads the newspaper. The addition of Maia has made everything more special. He wakes up every day loving his family and that isn’t something everyone can say, he’s grateful for his husband and daughter and he tells them every day. 

They try to teach Maia different things for at least an hour every day, they’re working on ‘Da, Pa, and Gran’ as well as ‘please’ for right now. She’s gotten into saying no to everything, which is a habit they are trying to break. Right now they’ve taken a break from her words, and moved onto teaching her about their garden. They’ve both agreed that teaching their kids how to garden will help them in the future. It’s such a cute thing to do with family and Maia’s rose shearing hat is absolutely adorable. 

“So you put this here, Maia can you put that in the dirt for me love?” Harry asks her while Louis digs the hole in the dirt for their new patch in the vegetable garden. Harry guides her hand to the dirt and she lets go of the seeds.

“That’s my girl, good job Maia darling.” Louis coos at her, she always smiles when they say her name like she’s aware they’re talking to her. They repeat the process and then let her play in the grass while they actually weed the garden. Their vegetable garden has flourished from the small planters at Harry’s old place. They’ve got a patch of seasonings like basil and rosemary, along with the tomato plant that Louis gave Harry all those years ago. They’ve just started growing carrots and eggplants as well. Maia had planted some squash seeds next to the zucchini. 

“I’m going to go inside and get showered for the class. Do you need anything before I go inside?” 

“Yes, Lou could you kiss me goodbye please?” Harry’s smile is still beautiful, Louis will never tire of seeing his husband smile. 

“Of course, petal.” Louis leans down to kiss Harry, and then kisses Maia. “Oh, and don’t let her get too dirty! I’m supposed to bring her with me for the first lesson so Sandy can evaluate her curls!” He calls out on his way inside. 

By the time he’s finished in the shower he can hear Harry and Maia inside. He can tell he’s at the point of getting Maia ready where she does not want to put her clothes on. She’s been throwing fits lately the moment they go to put clothes on her, Louis thinks she truly is Harry’s daughter. He starts on his makeup, he’s toned it down over the years, but he’s still fond of his shimmer and contour. He keeps it simple for tonight, not wanting to offend any of the other parents. By the time he’s dressed Maia’s shouting has stopped. He walks into her room and sees Harry on the floor with her dress in his hands and Maia running naked through the room. 

“My Olive! What are you doing to your Pa?” Louis says from the doorway. Maia stops running and looks to her Da, with a look on her face that almost makes him laugh.

“No! No!” 

“Now, lil miss. We don’t say no to our Pa’s! Let’s get you dressed, pretty girl. Then we can go learn how to make your hair pretty.” Louis takes the rainbow patterned dress from Harry and pulls it over her head before she can argue more. 

“Prit?” Maia says through her teeth.

“Yes, pretty.” Harry speaks up. “You always get her to calm down, I swear.” 

“You would be the one to calm her down had I been the one to start getting her ready. That’s just how kids are.” 

They say their goodbyes to Harry, Maia gives him a very slobbery kiss on his face. Louis kisses him on the nose and tells him they will be back soon. 

They drive to the class and sing some boyband song very loudly. Maia really just makes sounds that could be words, but she’s getting better. They make it to the class about fifteen minutes early, Louis unbuckles Maia and hitches her up on his hip. He grabs the bag with her coloring book, crayons, and a bag of cheerios. Kids are simple, they’ve found out. They don’t always need an iphone in front of their faces, plus they both refuse to give Maia their phones, it’s killing children’s imaginations, Harry read an article about it. 

They enter the salon, Sandy is setting up and there are two other parents there. He says hello to everyone that’s there so far, and Maia shouts a loud ‘hi.’ Sandy’s a tall woman, with dark skin, darker eyes and blue hair. Louis loves her already because she’s got her hair styled in a mohawk and she’s wearing bright green glasses. 

“Hi! You must be Louis! And you must be lil Maia, her curls are gorgeous. You can take any station that’s set up.” Sandy says from the front of the salon. 

“Hi, yeah I’m Louis and this is Maia, thank you for having this class, me and my husband want to learn how to style her hair correctly for her texture you know?”

“I do know, and that’s why I hold these classes.” They share a smile and Sandy gets back to working at the front counting out supplies. 

Maia points to an empty chair next to a woman and her daughter. 

“Hi there! I’m Annie, and this is my daughter Spooky! Well, her real name is Sophie but my son couldn’t say Sophie, and Spooky stuck.” The woman next to him introduces herself and her adorable little girl. 

“Hey, I’m Louis. This is Maia.” Louis waves Maia’s hand at Annie and Spooky. Maia is thoroughly unimpressed. “My husband and I both want to learn how to style her hair for her texture, I have a million little sisters but their hair is just so different? So we’re here to learn, Maia isn’t too excited to have been pulled out from our garden but she’ll be happy if we can detangle her hair without her crying.” Louis laughs and so does Annie.

“Tell me about it! Every time I bring a brush to her hair she just starts crying, I’ve tried everything!” While the two chat, more parents arrive. There’s six parents in total, which Louis is thankful for, he won’t have to fight for Sandy’s attention. 

“Alright! Everyone find a spot, I’m going to tell y’all a bit about myself and then we can go around and introduce yourself and your child, and a bit of why you’re here. I’m Sandy, I’ve been doing hair for fifteen years and until I had my daughter I didn’t realize new parents struggle with textured hair. My husband didn’t know the difference between leave in conditioner and edge control. So I started teaching him and then he showed me a video of someone online and said, ‘babe, you can do that.’ So here I am. Now my daughter isn’t here tonight, Frankie will probably join us in one of these lessons. I moved here from the south a while back, so if my accent comes out don’t laugh!” She motions for everyone to speak about themselves. There’s a Tegan and her son Joel, Annie and Spooky, Ross and his daughter Harriet, Sophia and her boy Hendricks, and Norman with his daughter Salma. 

“Hey, I’m Louis, this is Maia Olive. I’m a detective for the NYPD, and my husband Harry is a sergeant. We found Miss Maia through a case and fell in love with her and we are both at a loss when it comes to styling her hair, we mostly just do little pom poms on her head. But we want to learn how to style her hair to enhance her curls so that’s why I’m here.” He laughs when Norman makes a face at the fact that he’s a cop, but most people do laugh. 

Sandy starts the class with teaching them each about the importance of a detangler and a leave in conditioner, she then moves into styling products such as different gels and creams. 

“Now, we’re gonna get to edges I promise, not yet, but for that you want a clear gel. For now we’re just going to talk about the best way to handle wash day and how often you should be washing your child’s hair. Now, for instance, Maia has a 3C curl pattern so Louis, you and your husband should never brush Maia’s hair dry, and you should only brush it once you have conditioner in her hair. And you don’t have to wash her hair often, honestly once a week should do, you don’t want to dry out her gorgeous curls.”

“Once a week?”

“Once a week, now you can always wet her hair and condition the ends if she has a day where she needs a bath from head to toe, I know how toddlers can be. But she doesn’t need to shampoo more than once a week. Now product for your child specifically, you need a sulfate free shampoo automatically, and your detangler can be a heavy conditioner, as long as it’s a moisturizing product. You’re going to want to get like a curl custard or cream too for when she’s out of the shower, as well as a leave in conditioner.”

“So she definitely needs a leave in even if we use a heavy conditioner?” Louis asks. 

“Yes! And that will come in handy on days her curls are just not cooperating. Now for you Michelle for your daughter’s hair…” Louis stops listening and starts making a list in his phone of products that Sandy just explained. Maia is coloring a Nemo coloring sheet in black crayon. She’s the next Picasso. 

By the end of the class Louis’ brain is overflowing with knowledge of product and how to apply and how much to apply. He had no idea you apply the product and comb it through to get an even coating of product, he always just hoped for the best and Maia’s hair showed it sometimes. At the end of class Sandy hands each parent a list of products that they should go home and research. She said next class they would go over which brands are best and most affordable for their budget. She also said next class to prepare their children for a hair washing. Sandy was going to wash each child’s hair and show them the proper steps. Louis doesn’t know what he expected from this class but he was not expecting a teacher this thorough. He feels like he’s actually going to be able to help his daughter and teach his husband as well. Sandy also goes into the differences between natural and relaxed hair, she says while her hair is relaxed her daughter’s is natural and that’s a personal preference that they are going to have to let their children make. 

They leave and wave goodbye to Sandy and the rest of the parents, he gets Annie’s number because Maia and Spooky had colored together with no tantrums. When he buckles Maia in her carseat he calls Harry and asks if he needs to pick anything up for the meal he prepared. Harry says no and that dinner is almost ready and to hurry home. 

When they get home the house smells amazing and Harry is singing in the kitchen, Blue jumps up from her favorite spot in the kitchen to run and greet Louis and Maia. 

“Hello my darlings!” Harry calls out through the house.

“Pa! Pa!” Maia giggles out when she finally sees Harry.

“Maia Moo! Hi love, how was class?” he asks Louis.

“I feel like I was entirely unprepared. But the teacher is so nice and Maia may have found a friend, her name is Spooky.” Louis says and leans over the sink to grab some noodles out the strainer. 

“Stop it, that’s for dinner, it’s almost ready. What was class on today?”

“Mainly products? She gave each of us a list of like product types to research how they’re used and then we’re going to go over like product lines and which are best and affordable and stuff. Next class Sandy is going to wash Maia’s hair and show me the best way. I think you should come to that class too just so we both see it.”

“Have we been washing her hair wrong?”

“I don’t think we’ve been washing it wrong, I think we just haven’t been using the right stuff, I mean she’s almost two I think we need to really start trying to style her hair, once she can talk she’s going to be like ‘Da Pa why’s my hair a mess all the time?’”

“Louis, no she isn’t, she always looks adorable, but I do want her curls to last longer and not get so frizzy. I’ll try to take off work that night so I can join.”

“Thank you.” Louis kisses Harry and puts a hand on Maia, she’s in Harry’s arm and demands a kiss too.

“Da! Kith!”

“Of course My Olive!” he leans down and kisses her face and blows raspberries on her cheeks. She laughs and so does Harry. 

They eat the dinner Harry prepared for them, Maia’s face is a mess of butter and bread crumbs by the time dinner is finished. They clear the plates and clean up the kitchen before they let Maia out of her high chair. When they get her out of her chair they decide on family bath time. Louis loves it when they can all get in their tub full of bubbles and enjoy the time together. Maia completely drowns them in bubbles and Harry washes Louis’ hair. 

That night they all cuddle together to watch the newest princess movie. Louis falls asleep with Harry’s arms around him and Maia asleep on his chest. 

**

When Louis ‘graduates’ from his hair styling class Maia comes with him as normal but Harry joins too. Harry has told him that he’s proud of Louis taking initiative to help their family. Normally that ends with them in bed so Harry can show Louis just how proud he is. They’re in the salon and Maia is running around with Spooky. Annie and Louis have been joking about how handsome Harry looks in his uniform all night, the flush on Harry’s cheeks makes Louis lean over and pinch him on the cheek. 

“Everyone! Y’all, I am so proud of the work you have done these past few weeks! Norman your edge work is fabulous and Annie you can do box braids better than me at this point! Louis you have mastered the twist out and Sophia you have perfected the style on your son’s hair! Ross your braids are beautiful and Tegan you’ve done so well with your son’s hair especially when detangling! Tonight I just want everyone and their significant others to have fun with the kids, I have goodie bags with combs and picks just as a little thank you for coming to my class!” Sandy says with her hands moving all over the place. Harry turns to Louis and leans in to whisper in his ear.

“You’ve done so well, you’ve made us a better family for this.” Louis blushes and turns to kiss Harry softly. Annie has made it known that they’re the favorite couple in the class they all seem to love that two officers found each other and fell in love. 

They spend the next thirty or so minutes joking with the other parents while they watch Maia run around with Hendricks, Spooky has since moved on to play with Harriet. 

“Hey man, I never got to tell you, but I think it’s really awesome what you and your husband are doing.” Norman tells Harry in a tone that rubs them the wrong way.

“I’m not certain I know what you’re talking about?” Harry says with a fake smile on his face.

“You know, you’re both white policemen so taking in a little black girl must look good for when you’re up for promotions is all I’m saying.” Norman shrugs and waits for Harry to answer with a smirk on his face. Louis holds Harry’s shoulder and pulls him back down from where he’s started to stand up.

“H, do not fucking cause a scene.” Louis whispers in his ear.

“Look, I’m going to say this once and only once. I have no tolerance for racists. People like you are what’s wrong with the world today. That ‘little black girl’ as you put it happens to be my daughter. I love her no matter what her skin color is because I’m not a fucking asshole. The fact that you are going to sit here and say shit about my family when you’ve been learning how to deal with your kid’s hair from a black woman is fucking bold, man. And in what world would me having a child with another man help me for elections, are you that thickheaded that you think the police force is that easy to win over? Stay away from me, stay away from my husband, and stay away from my daughter you moron. If I ever catch you on the street you’ll be sorry about this.” Harry says almost calmly, he’s scaring Louis if he’s honest. He’s never seen Harry this mad except for the one time when they tried to put Louis undercover again. 

“Look, I don’t want any problems.” Norman starts to say but Louis cuts him off.

“That’s exactly what you were doing. Just fucking leave it alone and don’t come near my family. You heard my husband didn’t you?” Louis says as he holds Harry’s hand tightly as if to say ‘don’t say another word we will be the ones getting arrested if you go off again.’ 

The rest of the night goes well, Harry lets the anger go as he watches Maia run and play. Louis is still pissed, he’s going to tell Sandy after class to make sure if Norman posts a review online it isn’t bullshit. When they leave and he tells Sandy what happened she’s shocked but not surprised. She apologizes to Louis that he experienced such ignorance in her salon. 

“Ms. Sandy it’s absolutely not your fault. I’m just happy he dropped it before Harry punched him, underneath that uniform is a whole lotta muscle Norman would have been out cold if Harry hit him.” Louis laughs about the image. Harry boxes, he’s so hot. 

“Mhmm, tell me more about Harry’s hot body, Louis.” She starts making obscene hand gestures and moving her hips, they’ve gotten really close he’s genuinely going to miss her.

“Sandy no, stop!” Louis laughs so hard Maia can hear him and she runs up to him and attaches herself to his leg. 

“Da! Up peas!” She has her arms extended so Louis can pick her up.

“Of course My Olive.” He picks her up and presses his face into her tummy to make her laugh, she does. 

“God she is just gorgeous, and I love how y’all dress her!” Sandy says as she runs a hand through Maia’s hair. 

“Well, her mother made it clear she wanted Maia to eventually choose how she dresses, and how she hated the pink for girls blue for boys thing. She loved gender neutral things so we try to stick to that to honor her memory.” He says as his hand smooths down the shirt she’s wearing. It’s a white shirt patterned with dinosaurs and little blue leggings underneath, she’s also got her tiny checkered vans because she wanted them.

“I love that, you know for my next one I think I’m going to take a page out of your book. Kids need less pressure on themselves to be what everyone expects them to be you know?” Sandy says with a hand on Louis’ shoulder, “And here comes the other Mr. Tomlinson.”

“Hey Ms. Sandy, Maia did you say hello?” 

“Hi San!” 

“That’s as close as you’re going to get,” Harry and Louis laugh, Sandy just has a soft smile on her face. They say their goodbyes for real this time with big bear hugs from Sandy. They had made a playdate with Spooky for next week and Louis and Annie are looking forward to drinking mimosas while the girls play in the garden. 

When they get home they put Maia to bed, they say bath time can be in the morning, neither of them want to draw out bedtime. They sing her to sleep and move to their room. And that night Louis pulls out Harry’s collar just to show how good he’s been, he also brings out the paddle for Harry’s outburst back at the salon. It’s a good night for the Tomlinson family. 

**

Louis is picking Maia up from preschool when his four year old asks him a question he’s been thinking. 

“Da, when will you give me a baby?” Louis stops walking and turns to look at Maia, she’s getting better at dressing herself, today she’s wearing a grey sweater with bees on it and blue and red striped pants. Her hair has grown into a full afro, she loves her hair, she’s refused to let them cut it, and her favorite style is two pom poms on her head. She looks adorable, she’s looking up at Louis like he’s going to bullshit his answer. 

“Well Olive, I don’t know. We’ll have to ask your Pa when we see him.” She seems to accept his answer and she pulls on his hand to continue their walk. The preschool is close to the precinct. Harry’s been transferred to another unit as Captain, but Louis is a Sergeant for the Nine Nine, most of his colleagues have moved to different stations. Niall quit when Liam retired, Nick and Zayn are still there but Winston, Azoff, and Jesy have all moved stations. He walks them to Harry’s precinct to surprise him at work.

“Maia darling, why are you asking me about a baby?” He looks down at her to make sure she heard him, but keeps them walking.

“Well, you know Maisy in my class? And Spooky? Their mommies are growing a baby.” Louis did know Annie was pregnant, but had no idea about Maisy’s mom. 

“That’s lovely, that they’re going to have siblings. We’ll have to talk to Pa to see if he will give us a baby.” Maia nods her head and then jumps when she sees the precinct.

“PA! Come on Da, we have to go in to see him! And Miss Shannon!” Shannon was Harry’s assistant, she was such a nice woman and a total nerd, so Louis had things to talk to her about when Harry was on a phone call. When they walk in Maia waves hello to everyone she sees. All of Harry’s detectives love Maia and Louis when they show up, it boosts morale as Harry likes to say. Harry is out in the squad room talking to one of his detectives with his back turned to Louis when Louis whispers to Maia to go get him. 

He watches as his daughter sneaks up to Harry, and jumps on his legs.

“Pa! I’m here!” she screams out. Harry laughs and bends down to pick his daughter up. 

“My darling Maia Moo, you are here!” He says as he hugs her hello. He then turns to Louis, “And you’re here too, hello my love.” And he kisses Louis on the forehead. 

“Pa, when are you going to give us a baby?” Maia says so loudly the entire squad falls silent and turns to Harry and Louis.

“Uhm, let’s go in my office?” Harry says looking to Louis. Louis picks up Maia’s bag and follows his husband into his office. 

“Now, what’s this about a baby?” Harry asks, he’s sat Maia down on his desk and he and Louis are in the chairs in front of his desk. 

“Spooky’s mommy is growing another baby in her belly!” She looks at Louis and he nods to urge her to continue, “Maisy’s mom too! She has two mommies like how I have two daddies. So if Maisy can have a new baby why can’t I?” And at that Harry looks perplexed. 

“Well darling, you know how we got to have you right, love?” Liv was a sensitive topic but one that Maia wanted to talk about. 

“Yes, my mommy went to heaven so my daddies could have me.” More or less, but she is a four year old they didn’t want to scar her. 

“Right, for two daddies it’s hard to grow a baby. We can’t grow them ourselves, so to give you a baby we would have to ask someone to grow the baby for us.” Harry says. 

“Well then I’ll grow the baby!” Maia says with a big toothy smile. Harry has an alarmed look on his face and Louis jumps in.

“No love, you can’t grow our baby.” 

“Will I ever grow a baby?” Oh god, Louis is not ready to have this talk with his four year old daughter. 

“Maybe one day if you choose to do so, dear. It is your body after all and we will respect your decisions you make with your body, as long as they don’t harm you.” Harry, ever the peacemaker, says. 

“One day when I’m big?” 

“Sure Maia, one day when you’re big.” 

“So ask Gemmy or Lotts or Fizzle to have your baby!” Maia looks at her dads with a curious look on her face. 

“Maybe we will love, but having another baby is a big step and as a family we do need to talk about it.” Harry says.

“That’s what we are doing, Pa. We are talking about a baby.” Louis makes a face at Harry, one that says ‘she’s got you there.’ Harry turns to Louis.

“Love, what do you think about this?”

“I mean, I would love to have a baby with you H. We always planned to have one that’s a perfect mixture of us.” He turns to Maia, “Darling, if we have a baby you know you will have to share some love with the baby too? It won’t just be us and Pa, we wouldn’t be able to bring the baby back.” 

“Da, will the baby look like me or like you?” She says, she looks like she’s seconds away from crying.

“Oh little darling, I’m not sure. Is that something you would want?”

“No! I want to be the only pretty one with hair.” Harry snorts and Louis swats him on the arm. 

“Okay then, Olive, the new baby, if we have one, will look like us.” Maia seems to take this as an acceptable answer, Louis turns to Harry to continue what he was saying, “H, I would love to bring another baby into our home. You know I’ve been thinking of having a baby with you for years now. Remember when you said you liked me too and I told you to have my babies? It was true then and it’s true now. Let’s have a baby, H. Maia is on board and I am too, all we need is you to say yes.” Harry has tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

“Well, let’s call the sisters round for lunch this weekend, we can ask them. What they think about being a surrogate.” Harry says with a nod. Louis jumps up and hugs him tight, he kisses him on the neck and whispers so Maia can’t hear. 

“Daddy’s gonna show you how happy that makes him tonight, okay Kitten?” Harry whimpers and punches Louis in the arm at the same time. Louis knows Harry hates it when Louis brings out the D word when they’re in public with Maia. They can’t do anything with a toddler asking a thousand questions. 

“Okay family! Let’s go home and have take out for dinner, Pa is off duty!” Harry’s voice cracks when he says this which throws Maia into a fit of giggles. Harry packs his bag and grabs Maia’s at the same time. They say goodbye to the squad and go down to the garage where Harry’s car is parked. They drive home and sing some songs that Maia knows. When they get home Harry orders their usual from the Chinese place close to their house. They decide to eat outside since it’s such a beautiful night out. Maia normally hates Chinese food but tonight she’s eating up the sweet and sour chicken. Louis thinks she just likes that it’s in a pink sauce. 

“So were you serious earlier?” Harry asks him through a mouthful of chicken.

“About showing you how happy you make me?” Harry chokes and grabs his beer to wash the chicken down.

“Shut up! I know you’re serious about that, asshole. I’m talking about the baby.” 

“Of course. To be honest, I’ve been wanting another baby since Maia turned two.” 

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” Harry looks concerned now, sometimes he thinks that he’s too focused on his job and not focused enough on Louis and Maia. 

“It just wasn’t the right time, and I could tell. You were trying to become captain and Maia was still so little we needed to give her all of our attention. It’s not something that’s been eating away at me and causing me to hold back in our relationship. It’s just something that pops in my head every now and then. When I see Maia running around the garden with Blue I think how nice it would be to have her running around with a little brother or sister you know?” 

“Yeah, I know. I’m excited. I wonder which of the girls will say yes to us?”

“I have a feeling about Daisy. You know she’s been wanting to be a midwife?”

“Yeah we spoke about it at dinner last week, I wonder if Gemma would do it?”

“Either way H, half of me and half of you.”

“Half of me and half of you.” They kiss as Maia starts clapping and playing with Blue. 

**

All of the girls could come over for lunch on a Sunday. Harry and Louis prepared lunch for them to eat and Louis made a chocolate cake for them to eat after. Maia had promised to be on her best behavior. She’s dressed in a blue and yellow striped dress without shoes because they agreed she didn’t have to wear shoes today, shoes are the topic of many fights in the Tomlinson household. Maia hates to wear shoes, she likes her toes to be free, which is fine when they’re home but when it’s time to get ready for school Louis and Harry could scream. Harry and Louis are dressed comfortably, Louis’ in an Adidas sweatshirt and jeans and Harry’s in a flowy shirt and leggings. The girls are set to arrive any moment now so Louis runs through the house checking that everything is acceptable. There’s a knock on the door before it opens.

“Hey brothers!” And there’s Gemma. Her hair is longer, and purple. Maia’s going to have a field day with this.

“I’m here too!” Phoebe shouts from behind Gemma. 

“Hi guys,” Louis kisses them both on the cheek and tells them to leave their shoes at the door, “where’s the rest of you?”

“Daisy is coming with Lottie, they had gone to get facials this morning or something. I’m not sure where Fiz is.” Phoebe says as she takes of her clunky boots. Goth is apparently back in style. 

“Alright, we can start eating if they’re on the way. Or do you want drinks? I have champagne and wine and beer obviously.” Phoebe asks for a beer and Gemma mixes a drink. When Louis raises his eyebrows at her choice she opens her mouth to defend herself.

“I have a feeling there’s a reason you asked us all here. I’m knocking drinks back I’m so stressed,” she says in between sips of her rum and diet coke. 

“I mean it’s nothing bad honestly, just needed to ask a favor is all.”

“And it’s about time, too.” 

When they walk outside Harry and Maia are watering some of the plants and Phoebe is basking in the sunlight. Louis hands her her beer and sits next to her. He hears shouting from inside the house and notices the rest of his sisters have shown up including Doris.

“Doris what are you doing here?”

“You invited all the sisters but me! I made Fizzy bring me.” 

“Okay, go get a drink inside guys.” He hugs and kisses his other sisters and when they come back Harry serves them their meals. 

“This is all fine and well, but boys can you tell us why we’re all here?” Lottie speaks up, “Not that we don’t want to hang out! But you’ve got us all worried.” Louis motions to Harry to speak for them, but Maia beats them to it.

“You have to grow us a baby!” Maia screeches out. Louis watches his sisters faces and cracks up.

“Maia, what did we say about you being quiet while we talk?” 

“Sorry, Da.”

“That’s alright my darling.”

“Not that Maia is wrong, but we did ask you here for your help. We’ve always wanted a child that’s half of me and half of Louis. And we thought one of you would be able to help us with that? Either we can harvest eggs or you can carry, either way we would love to be able to keep this within the family. And like, obviously you’re allowed to say no! We just wanted to ask you first, as you are our first choices.”

“And that way I’m the only one with pretty hair!” Maia says proudly, Louis gives her a look and she sits back down and mimes zipping her lips shut. 

“Louis, is this true?” Lottie asks, he notices Gemma take a big sip of her drink. 

“Yeah we’ve been wanting to grow our family for a while but only just discussed it as a family.”

“Sorry boys, I’d rather die than be pregnant if I’m honest.” And there’s Gemma.

“I know, we both know your stance on pregnancy we just thought we would ask just in case, obviously your body your choice dear.” Harry says and pats her on the shoulder. Louis looks to Lottie who has a peculiar look on her face.

“Well, actually I’m already pregnant?” Everyone starts shouting all at once and Maia screams to silence everyone, “Yeah, me and Tommy found out last week I’m only six weeks though that’s why I hadn’t told you! So I’m sorry loves, I can’t carry your baby.” She somehow manages to have both a frown and a smile on her face, she looks just like their mom when she makes that face. 

“Lottie oh my god! That’s so exciting!” Louis says and jumps up to hug his sister, things get off track for a while everyone obsessing over Lottie and the existing baby. 

“Back to my baby, please!” Maia asks, they’ve really been working on please and thank you’s. 

“Guys, I’m thirteen.” Doris says and Louis laughs.

“I know, that’s why we didn’t originally invite you, love. Thank you for being here anyway though, I’m glad you’re here.”

“I want to do it.” Fizzy and Daisy say at the same time. They look at each other with smiles on their faces and Louis’ eyebrows must reach his hairline he’s so shocked. 

“Both of you do? Phoebs? What about you hon?”

“Well, I’m always sick, I really want to! But I wouldn’t want to risk getting the baby sick and potentially miscarrying or something.” 

 

“I didn’t even think about that, I’m sorry love. But thank you for thinking about it.”

“Louis, Harry, I truly want to do this. I’ve finished my classes and I haven’t gotten a decent job, I’m working at a bookshop for christ’s sake. It’s not like it would largely affect my day to day life.” Fizzy speaks up and looks at them both before urging Daisy to speak. 

“I would really love to do this for you two also. Maybe we have to see who’s eggs are better or something. I’ll fight you for it, Fiz.” Daisy laughs and pushes her sister.

“Just like when we were younger, jeez.” Louis says. 

“Well we have an appointment with the IVF clinic to set up the search for a surrogate but I guess we can cancel that and bring you two in instead!” Harry claps his hands and prompts Maia into clapping hers too. 

They all spend the rest of the day gossiping and talking about babies. Louis hasn’t been this giddy in a long time, and Gemma hasn’t been this drunk in a long time. She starts dancing with Maia and falls down and starts tickling Maia. Phoebe joins in and soon enough there’s a giant pile of women on the ground tickling each other. It continues like that for some time before Maia shouts.

“Da! Pa! I have to potty!” everyone immediately stops tickling her, and Harry grabs her to bring her to the bathroom. Once they’re gone, Fizzy looks at Louis.

“I’m really happy for you guys, we all are. You know that, right?” 

“Of course I do, we’re family after all.” 

**

Three months after their decision to start a family things start actually happening. Daisy, as it turns out, couldn’t carry their baby for them. Something about eggs and cycles that Louis honestly does not understand. Fizzy turns out to be their egg donor and surrogate. She has been going through fertility treatments to make sure eggs get released and they’re preparing to implant today. Fizzy made sure to tell them that she did not want them in the room when they do the procedure, they didn’t object to it either. 

They’re in the waiting room while Fizzy is in the back going through the procedure. Louis is reading a magazine and Harry is on his phone. Louis hears Harry snort and start laughing as silently as he can manage.

“Petal, what’s so funny?”

“Remember when you proposed? And I thought you were cheating on me with Gemma?”

“Yes, I think of it often.”

“Well, technically I’m knocking your sister up.”

“Oh my god, Harry.” Louis is unimpressed, Harry only laughs harder.

“God, if you had told me six years ago that I would be impregnating your sister I would have thought you were insane!” 

“Harry, it’s not like you’re fucking my sister, you came in a cup and they’re implanting it inside my sister so she can get pregnant. And have a baby. For us, the only couple in this conversation.” Louis rolls his eyes and Harry only chuckles more. 

“I know, I know. I just thought it was funny that we came full circle you know?” 

“Yes, love, I know.”

By the time the procedure is finished Louis has fully learned the benefits of eating vegan throughout pregnancy thanks to his women’s health magazine. He thinks Fizzy’s going to eat what Fizzy is going to eat, who are they to tell her what to do with her body. They have a lawyer for that actually, basically saying that she will give over full parental rights at birth as long as she can eat and exercise how she wants during the pregnancy. She takes it in a very old school way, she says they didn’t have all of these precautions back in the day and Louis turned out just fine. 

Fizzy comes out and Harry rushes over to her before Louis can even put his magazine down. 

“Are you okay to stand? Won’t it fall out or something?” He asks with a concerned frown on his face.

 

“Harry, it’s obvious you have no concept of the female anatomy, but no it won’t just ‘fall out.’ It’s fine, I waited the proper time before I stood up.” Fizzy says and waves her hand to tell Harry to back off. 

“All good?” Louis asks her.

“All good, big bro.”

**

Fizzy is six months pregnant with a baby girl. They’ve been going back and forth on names for months, both wanting something cute and quirky to match Maia’s name but neither of them wanted her name to be too out of the box. 

“What about Poppy?”

“What is she? A gran? No.” Louis rolls his eyes, Poppy, honestly.

“Okay what about Sage?” Harry asks.

“I arrested someone on marijuana charges last week, her name was Sage.”

“Okay if we crossed off the names of people we’ve arrested we would have nothing to choose from, Baby Honey.”

“Harry, that’s it. Honey!”

“We are not naming our daughter Honey.” Harry crosses his arms over his bare chest, their post sex talks have really taken a turn in these past months. 

“No, for her middle name. So it matches Maia’s. Like how she’s Maia Olive? This baby’s middle name can be Honey. It’s cute.”

“That actually is adorable.” Harry pouts, Louis can tell he’s upset he didn’t think about it. Louis traces his finger over Harry’s laurel tattoos.

“I love that my laurels are your favorite.” Harry smiles and then makes a face, “Laurel. Laurel Honey.”

“Laurel Honey. I love it.” Louis smiles and kisses Harry. 

“Half of me and half of you.” 

**

Fizzy is nine months pregnant and about to pop when Maia comes home from school crying. Maia is normally a very easy going child who enjoys school, so to see her crying has Louis shocked. 

“My little darling, my Olive. What happened baby?”

“Da, Avery called me ugly. With ugly hair. And ugly clothes. And she said I had two stupid dads!” Maia chokes out, she’s truly upset by this. And this is the first Louis has heard about bullying. 

“Baby, I’m so sorry Avery said all these things. You know they’re not true, don’t you?” 

“I told Avery that I may be ugly but my hair isn’t! And I told Avery that my dads aren’t stupid, they’re superheros.” 

“Darling, you are not ugly. And you’re right, your hair is beautiful, don’t let anyone ever say anything about your hair. Thank you for saying we’re superheroes, Pa is going to be so happy to hear you think that of us. But baby why didn’t you say anything about your clothes?” 

“Because, I’m the only girl who wears blue and yellow and green. And I like shorts instead of skirts and I don’t like to wear flowers all the time! I like dinosaurs and princesses. I think that might be weird? Is there something wrong with me?” Maia asks, her bottoms lip is sucked into her mouth and her face is covered in tears. Louis heart breaks for his daughter. 

“My Maia. There is nothing wrong with liking things no matter what they are. You know how me and Pa wear makeup but Uncle Nick doesn’t,” Maia shakes her head so he continues, “Normally men don’t wear makeup, because it’s ‘for girls,’ but your father and I believe that if we like something we get to enjoy it. And Darling, you like dinosaurs because Liam taught you all about them, so it’s perfectly okay that you like them. And you like shorts instead of skirts because Fizzle taught you that you can explore so much easier without having to worry about a skirt. You like blue and yellow and green because your mom wanted you to. She wanted you to grow up not being limited, do you understand what I’m saying?” 

“So, because the people who love me show me things and I like them it’s okay?”

“Exactly, love. You like the things you like because you’re around it. Avery might be jealous that you express yourself so well. Maybe Avery is scared to be himself so he’s taking it out on you?” 

“Do you really think so?” She looks up at him with her big brown eyes, they’re puffy from crying. Sometimes when she cries her freckles look darker, Louis doesn’t understand it. 

“People normally are mean because they’re upset with themselves. Maybe try showing Avery that he can be himself and people will like who he is.” Louis watches Maia nod and sniffle. “Did you tell your teacher what he said to you?”

“No, I didn’t want him to get in trouble.” She says with wide eyes. They may have taken their ‘no tattling’ rule a little too far this time. 

“Well, how bout me and Pa talk to your teacher so you don’t have to?”

“Only if Avery doesn’t get in trouble. It’s not his fault he doesn’t know he can be himself and be happy.” Louis is so proud of his girl, and he tells her as much. 

“I’m so proud of you, my girl.” He picks her up and hugs her tight, eventually he won’t be able to do this and he knows it. He tries to hold her as often as he can. 

“Da, you’re embarrassing me!” She giggles, and that’s better. Louis’ job here is almost done. 

 

When they walk inside they’re greeted by Blue as well as a smaller version of Blue. Louis looks at the new addition with wide eyes and calls out for his husband. 

“Harry! Tell me you didn’t!” Harry rounds the corner and has the nerve to look shy. 

“Well, I was walking past the window and there he was! He looked so much like Blue I couldn’t walk away.” Maia is squealing and rolling around with the puppy who makes tiny barking noises. 

“What’s his name?”

“I figured Maia could choose?”

“Olive, what do you want to name the new puppy?” She doesn’t even hesitate before answering. 

“Boogers!” Harry and Louis turn to each other and start laughing.

“That is your daughter Harry!”

“We can call him Boogie for short!”

“That’s actually kinda cute.” Louis agrees, “But Harry, we’re about to have a baby. Do you really think right now is the right time for a puppy?”

“I have him enrolled in like puppy training classes so he can be potty trained and obedience trained. So we don’t even have to worry about that! And this way he can grow up with Laurel!”

“Fine, love. He’s beautiful.” They let Maia run around outside with the dogs while they have a drink at the table outside. 

“So someone told our daughter today that she was ugly, that her hair was ugly, that her clothes were ugly, and that she had two stupid dads.” Harry spits out his beer.

“What the fuck, they’re four!”

“I know, I talked to her about it and made sure she knew she was beautiful and you know what she said?” Harry shakes his head, “At first she said she thought she was weird because she likes dinosaurs instead of flowers and shit like that, and then I told her that she likes the things she likes because we like them and show them to her and she called us superheros, H. Superheros. She was more upset about him calling us stupid than him calling her ugly!”

“Tell me you didn’t tell her when boys are mean it’s because they like them.”

“Harry I work with homicide, of course I didn’t tell her that. I told her it was because he was jealous that she could be happy and be herself. She told me that if we talk to her teacher to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble because it’s not his fault that he’s not happy.”

 

“We’re raising the future president, I swear.” 

“She’d be a better one than we have right now, that’s for sure,” Louis mutters under his breath, “But when he said the thing about her hair, Harry her response was so fucking funny. She goes all tough and says ‘I may be ugly, but my hair isn’t!’ isn’t that the funniest thing you’ve ever heard!” Louis laughs and Harry lets out a cackle.

“I love our daughter so much, that’s the best thing I’ve heard in a long time.”

They call Maia in for dinner, have a family bath time and tuck themselves into bed. Maia sleeps in their bed tonight, something she only does when she’s actually upset. 

“We’re going to the school aren’t we?” Louis whispers to Harry. 

“Of course we are, fuck that little kid. Let’s wear our uniforms so they take us seriously.” Harry whispers and giggles at his own dramatics. 

“Alright, goodnight darling, I love you.” Louis leans up and kisses Harry.

“I love you too, baby.”

 

The next morning they dress in full uniform while Maia eats breakfast. Louis thinks they look their best either in uniform or completely out of it. Maia dresses in her favorite dinosaur printed outfit and her hair is styled in her signature afro. They leave to bring Maia to school and to talk to the principal. 

When they get there, the drop Maia at their class and walk to the office where the principal is waiting for them, Harry had called earlier in the day to request a quick meeting. 

“Ah! Gentleman what can I do for you today?” Principal Higgins says while shaking their hands. 

“We just wanted to speak about bullying and the school’s policy on it?” Harry asks. 

“Oh dear, has something happened with Maia?”

“Yesterday there was an incident, she was told she was ugly and that she had two stupid dads. More or less.” Louis speaks up. He feels his phone vibrate in his pants, but ignores it to appear professional. 

“Which student was it? We have a no tolerance policy here, we will find a punishment that fits as soon as we know who did it.” Paul looks ready to arrest a small child for some simple name calling, Louis likes this guy. Harry’s hand reaches for his pocket to silence his phone, he lets out a small apology. 

“Well, Paul, that’s the thing. Maia told me that she didn’t want the child to get in trouble because it isn’t their fault that they aren’t happy with themselves. My husband and I would like to suggest your children have small assemblies about treating people with kindness, including yourself.” Harry says. 

“Yes, you see we think that kids are still getting the watered down hatred from their parents. Maia knows she’s beautiful and she knows she’s allowed to like things that boys normally like because we’ve raised her to be kind and enjoy the things she enjoys. We think your students could benefit from a talk like that. Where they can be open about the things they like and the things they want to do.” Louis’ phone vibrates again in his pocket, once again he ignores it. When Harry’s phone goes off again he excuses himself to take the call outside the office. 

“Well, Mr. Tomlinson, I think that could be a fabulous idea. I’ve been wanting the children to be more open with themselves and what they like. The whole pink is for girls blue is for boys thing needs to stop. These kids should be allowed to just be free and be children. Would either you or your husband like to be the speaker at this assembly?” And Louis is shocked, he’s about to say yes when Harry bursts through the door. 

“I’m so sorry, but Louis we have to go. Fizzy’s in labor.” Louis looks at Harry in shock. “Louis, the baby is coming. Come on!” Harry shakes Paul’s hand and grabs his bag before leaving. Louis gets up and does the same. 

“Paul, I’m going to have to get back to you on that! I would love to but I’m off to have a baby!”

 

They rush out to the car and speed their way to the hospital. When they get there they greet Lottie and her son, Carter, in the hallway. 

“How is she doing?”

“Did you two run here? She’s only at five centimeters, you have time to breathe.” Lottie says while she bounces Carter on her hip. 

“We didn’t want to miss anything.” Harry says and he’s out of breath. “Can we go in?” 

“Harry, it’s your baby. Of course you can go in.” 

They walk into the room together, Fizzy is sitting on the bed reading a book, she looks completely calm. She’s got her long hair up in a bun on top of her head and fuzzy socks on her feet. Her belly is massive, Louis thinks. 

“Hey, love. How are you feeling?” Louis asks her.

“Like I never want to do this again, but like I want to do this five more times too.” Fizzy says with a laugh. Her face contorts and she lets out a groan while holding her belly. “These contractions fucking suck.”

“Should we call a nurse?” Louis asks her, he’s brushing the hair out of her face. 

“No it’s okay, they’re still far apart for now.” Lottie and Carter join them then, Harry asks to hold him and then they wait. 

Fizzy’s technically in labor for seven hours by the time Laurel is born. Fizzy allows Harry and Louis to be in the delivery room, at first she didn’t want them in there. They’re thankful she let them in the room though, they didn’t watch they promised they wouldn’t. But that first cry that she let out, it’s the best sound Louis’ ever heard. 

“Harry, listen to her. She’s gorgeous.” Louis is crying and when he looks to Harry, he notices his husband crying as well. 

“Well, dads! Looks like you’ve got a healthy baby girl!” The doctor says and holds up the baby. “Would one of you like to cut the cord?” They look at each other for a moment before Harry moves to cut the cord. Laurel is red and crying and they take her before they can hold her. “We just have to clean her off and make her all nice and pretty, boys. You’ll be able to hold her in a second.” 

“Fiz, you’ve done amazing. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve shit myself,” Louis snorts, “no, honest! That’s what giving birth feels like. Did you two get a good look at her?” 

“No, they took her to clean her off. But the lungs on her, that’s going to keep us up at night,” Harry says. 

“Fiz, I bet you did shit yourself. Don’t most women shit when they give birth?” Fizzy and Harry both turn to look at Louis. “What? I’ve been reading, I wanted to be prepared.” 

“Thanks, Lou. I’m so happy for you guys, really. I’d do this again if you needed me to.” She says with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. 

 

They wait until a nurse comes over and asks who wants to hold the baby first.

“Since I cut the cord you should be first to hold her, Baby Honey.” 

“Okay, yeah. I’ll hold her.” They nurse rolls his eyes and puts Laurel in Louis’ hands.  
Then it’s like the room stills, when Laurel yawns and looks up at Louis with her big blue eyes and blinks hard, like she can’t believe what she’s seeing either. And he’s holding his baby in his arms, a baby that is half of him and half of Harry. She’s got a head full of thick caramel colored hair, it curls up on the ends. She’s got the cutest damn nose he’s ever seen. 

“She’s got the cutest damn nose I’ve ever seen.” Louis sniffs and laughs.

“I’m surprised she didn’t come out with a honker like mine.” Harry whispers. Louis smacks him in the arm without taking his eyes off his daughter. God, he has another daughter. 

“She’s absolutely lovely, sweetheart. We did it.” Louis says, and leans over to kiss Harry. 

“Well, technically Fizzy did it.” Louis rolls his eyes, “Look at her, baby look, look at our baby.” And now Harry’s crying in full. 

“Did you guys think of a name yet?” Fizzy speaks up from her bed. 

“Yeah, we’re naming her Laurel Honey.” Louis says, they had decided to keep her name a secret. 

“That’s beautiful guys.” Louis moves to hand her off to Harry, but the nurse cuts in before he can. 

“Sorry to cut this short guys, but we have to go run tests and make sure everything is good. We will bring her back soon though, so stay put.” He maneuvers Laurel out of Louis’ hands and puts her in a bassinet and rolls her away. 

They spend the rest of the night with Fizzy and the rest of the girls that come through. Liam had picked Maia up from school and was keeping her for the night. They do have to leave when visiting hours are over though. They go home and take a bath together, Louis with his back to Harry’s front. They’re both quiet, not quite wanting to disturb the last moment of silence their lives will probably ever have. Harry breaks it though. 

“We’re going to be okay right? You and me and the babies? We’ll do alright, right?”

“Kitten, of course we will.” Louis turns around in the bath to face Harry. “We’ve done just fine with Maia and we will do just fine with Laurel as well. Together we’re a great team, and we’re great parents.” 

“You and me.” Harry nods and moves to hold Louis’ hand as they wait to hold their daughter again. 

**  
Louis is in his backyard watching one of his daughters run around with Blue and Boogie while the other crawls after her. Harry’s watering their garden and sipping on a beer at the same time, he’s got on his rose shearing hat and some gardening gloves. Harry’s recently cut his hair, it had been almost halfway down his back, now it rests just above his collar bones. It looks how it did when they fell in love and Louis loves every second of it. Louis looks at his husband with a fond smile on his face. He never imagined his life this way. 

He never imagined himself married to the most handsome man on the planet. He never imagined Harry would love him back and he definitely never imagined Harry saying yes to a life with him. He thinks back to how unprepared they were when Maia dropped down into their laps. She’s been a blessing since day one, but they had no idea what was in store for them. 

Maia has made their lives more vibrant, everything she touches turns golden. She’s hilarious and makes sure everyone knows it. She’s fiercely independent but will call for Harry or Louis when she thinks there’s a monster in her teddy bears. She’s in love with her hair, which is something Harry and Louis wanted her to love about herself. Her hair is gorgeous, as is her brown skin and her brown eyes. They always tell her how beautiful she is and how special she is to them. Her self confidence has grown to levels Harry and Louis weren’t sure she would reach. She calls herself ‘The Girl Almighty’ and they both agree. She brings the joy in their lives that they didn’t know they were missing. She says when she grows up she wants to hand out balloons in Time Square, they both tell her that she’s going to be the best balloon woman out there. 

Laurel, at only 9 months old, is every bit Louis and Harry. She’s loud and stubborn like Louis and soft and clumsy with a temper just like Harry’s. She laughs at everything though, she takes after her big sister. She’s about to start walking, Harry’s already convinced they need to have another baby, that she’s growing up so fast. Louis tells him to just enjoy it while it lasts, that they don’t know what the future has in store for them. Laurel has Louis’ hair color but Harry’s curls and Louis couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful combination. Her eyes that were a deep ocean blue at birth quickly changed to a blue greeny blue color, she’s gorgeous. However, if you ask Maia she’s still the pretty one. Laurel is going to grow strong and confident just like her big sister, Louis just knows it.

Blue and Boogie are still the same silly puppies they always have been. Boogie looks at Blue before he does anything, needing permission from his older sister. Much like Laurel and Maia. Blue is getting slower as she moves though, Louis sees it when she tries to jump on the bed. She’s still the same grey color, but mixed with tons of white now. Boogie is a handful, but he’s learned how to high five so Louis and Harry are impressed with him no matter how rambunctious. 

Harry has remained one of the best Captains the NYPD has ever seen, he tells Louis often that he would quit if he could find something else he loves just as much. Louis thinks Harry has a few years left in him before he falls in love with being a house husband like Louis. Harry’s squad looks up to him and trusts him, he’s the new Liam. Harry’s still Louis’ best friend and best person to prank. 

Louis, well Louis quit working for the police department after Laurel was born. He loves being a dad and he loves taking care of the house. He’s a domestic person who didn’t know they were a domestic person until life hit them in the face. He loves waking up and feeding his husband and daughters before sending two of them out of the house. He and Laurel spend every morning reading in bed and then they spend some time out in the garden if the weather is nice enough. Louis started a blog actually. He posted on Liv’s blog a while back as an update of Maia’s life. Turns out people liked it, so now he posts videos of him and Maia and Laurel for the world to see. He’s been getting crazy sponsorships for baby food and clothes that they haven’t had to buy either in months. Laurel dresses the same as Maia did when she was a toddler, as gender neutral as possible. 

They have a good life, Harry and Louis love each other dearly and they love their children more than life itself. Not much has changed for them other than the additions to the family, which really changed everything. But their love remains as steady and true as it did on their wedding day.

Louis watches as Harry takes off his gloves and walks over towards Louis with a smile on his face and his hands on his hips.

“Well, look at you soaking up the sun, and not helping in the garden!” Harry jokes with him.

“I was just sitting here thinking.”

“Oh, that’s no good. Thinking about what, love?” Louis pokes Harry in the dimple and Harry’s whole face scrunches up.

“We have a good life, and I was just thinking about how lucky we are.” 

“We do have a good life, sweets. We are tremendously lucky.”

“To love each other as much as we do, and to have such wonderful children, I can’t believe this is my life but I’m so glad I get to share it with you.”

He looks out and sees Maia carrying Laurel and plopping her in the grass, Boogie is not far behind. He starts licking Laurel’s face and she and Maia both start laughing. 

“Till we’re old and saggy, Lou.”

“Till we’re old and saggy, Harry.” 

**

**Author's Note:**

> [heres a playlist for the fic!](https://open.spotify.com/user/bk0ax35xv1eml88kb332pw4qi/playlist/0V27Z1InuYjNKgHU0MIbWW)
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> [heres my blog!](https://floweredhalo.tumblr.com/tagged/tcba)
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> also Sandy is based off a real life teacher of mine from hair school and every single character in that scene is a real hair stylist and i look up to ALL of them. theyre all lovely people ive met most of them when i went to the salon too, but ms sandy is my life and one of the best teachers ive ever had, she taught me to respect hair as well as style it so shout out to her.  
> and yes i did kill off my liv to let harry and louis have a child, we discussed it and shes very happy to have been part of their adoption in this universe.  
> all of harrys pins are real! i have all of them! if youre interested in a certain one just message me on my blog and ill post the link!  
> okay i love yall bye!  
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> [heres my blog](http://floweredhalo.tumblr.com/tagged/tcba)


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